I did a project several years ago, matching up a verse of Scripture to every month and day in the year. For July 7th (7/7), it’s Matthew 7:7 It can be called ASK Day, and I think it should be a recognized holiday, or holyday, maybe. Matthew 7:7 goes like this: Ask and you shall receive; seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you.
An important thing to know is that these verbs, ask, seek and knock, all three are in present imperative tense in the Greek manuscripts. That means these verbs are described as continuous actions, letting us know that we’re invited by God to keep our requests continually before him, rather than shooting Him an occasional quickie.
Jesus, who spoke these words in His Sermon on the Mount, reiterated this point with a parable that’s recorded in Luke 18. There was a judge who had no love for God nor people, so fair and right judgment wasn’t his goal. However, there was a widow who came (present imperative tense) relentlessly before him, calling on him for justice in her case.
The judge cared nothing about her having justice, yet he gave in and heard the case, just to bring an end to her annoying pleas.
If a judge, explained Jesus, answered the request of someone he cared nothing about, can’t we bring, with confidence, to our loving Father, who desires to give us whatever we need, the requests on our hearts?
Some Bible publishers title this parable The Unjust Judge, but the title I prefer, which some publishers use, is The Persistent Widow. That title emphasizes the widow’s persistence above the poor character of the judge, and I think that’s more appropriate, as in keeping with Jesus’ lesson.
God retains His sovereignty in all matters, and as His submissive children, we defer to His will, actually ultimately preferring His will. Thus Paul, after three requests – each being lengthy, by my estimation – accepted God’s solution to his problem, a different solution than Paul had requested. And God’s only Son, Himself, accepted the Father’s will over His own after praying three times in Gethsemane (Luke 22).
So God’s Sovereign will always has the final say.
But then there was the Canaanite woman (Matthew 15) begging Jesus, then His disciples, then Jesus again, to help with her demon-possessed daughter. She was so persistent that she seemed to finally convince Jesus to do what He first had refused at to do. That story is probably the best real-life play-out of the principle of persistence in prayer – the ASK Principle.
And I believe God’s will is that we participate in many more real-life examples of the principle by asking, seeking and knocking with persistence.
So happy ASK Day! May we be reminded on this day to persistently seek God for our needs every day of the year!
