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Friend, ask, seek, knock: keep coming to your Abba!

Matthew 7:7-11 Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!

After talking about pride, discernment, and caring for what is holy, Yeshua (Jesus) now turns to give his disciples one of the most touching illustrations in the whole of the Sermon on the Mount.

After having cautioned them not to pass severe judgments and not to present pearls before swine, He wishes to make certain that they do not leave with a distorted understanding of the Father. God is not far away. He does not hold back what he has. He is not waiting to catch anyone in a mistake. He is a Father who gives.

Notice the order: ask, seek, knock. These words show an active life, not a passive one. Someone who asks knows they need something. Someone who seeks believes there is something worth finding. Someone who knocks trusts that a door can open. Asking is the simplest step—just making a request with faith.

Seeking takes effort and a heart that is ready to search. Knocking means not giving up, staying at the door until it opens. Yeshua teaches that prayer is not something passive. It is an active relationship, and at every step, the Father responds.

In Hebraic thought, prayer is more than just telling God what we need. It is about building a relationship. The word for prayer, tefillah (תְּפִלָּה), also means self-examination and coming to God with an open heart. When we ask, we are also being searched. When we seek, we are shaped. When we knock, we learn patience as we wait at the door.

Yeshua uses an example everyone in his audience would understand: the love a parent has for their child. Would any father give his son a stone when he asks for bread? Or a snake when he asks for fish? The idea is almost unthinkable, and that is the point. No good parent would betray their child's trust. If imperfect people can give good gifts to their children, then surely our perfect Abba in heaven knows how to give good things to those who ask.

This idea is at the heart of God's Kingdom. Many people worry that God is stingy, that he is testing them, or that his silence means he is saying no. But Yeshua puts these fears to rest with simple logic: if you, with all your flaws, can love your children, then your perfect Father in heaven loves you even more. He is not looking for reasons to hold back. He is looking for a heart that is willing to ask.

Sometimes, a delay is not a refusal. The door might still be closed because you have not finished knocking. The answer may come at just the right time, even if you have to wait a while. But the Father's nature does not change while you wait. He is always good, always listening, and working out each request with wisdom, seeing things you cannot yet see.

Ashrei—blessed—is the person who comes to the Father with childlike trust, asking boldly, seeking with patience, and knocking again and again. He does not hold back in fear, because he trusts that the One who hears him loves to give good things to His children.

Friend, do not let doubt keep you from asking. Do not let past disappointments make you think heaven is silent. Keep asking. Keep seeking. Keep knocking. The door was never truly closed to you. It was just waiting for someone brave enough to keep trying.

Your family in the Lord with much agape love,

George & Baht Rivka (Baltimore, Maryland)