“It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings.” Proverbs 25:2
Just so you don’t think I’m making too much of one obscure Old Testament verse, Jesus said the same thing in Matthew 7:7–8: “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened” (NLT).
Sadly, most of us don’t ask, seek, or knock very often or for very long. We ask God what He is up to, who we are, or what He wants us to do usually when we are in some sort of crisis. We will stick with these types of questions until the confusion, stress, or pain stops. It may be several hours or several days. If the situation is severe enough, we may pursue God for several weeks. But once the crisis is over, it’s like we slip back under a spell.
Oswald Chambers said, “We will long and desire and crave and suffer, but not until we are at the extreme limit will we ask...until you get to the point of asking you won’t receive from God. To receive means you have come into the relationship of a child of God, and now you perceive with intelligent and moral appreciation and spiritual understanding that these things come from God.” Jesus tells a story just before His “ask, seek, and knock” statement that explains possibly the most overlooked element of our searching. He tells of a man who goes to his friend’s house late at night to borrow some food to feed an unexpected guest. His friend, irritated at the audacity of the inopportune request, shouts through the door, “No!” But because his friend was persistent, literally bold and shameless, he was given what he was searching for.
We are not to occasionally ask, seek, and knock. Our life is to be one of continually asking, seeking, and knocking. We are to be explorers not tourists, archaeologists not museum visitors. Our life should be continual shouts of “I found another one!”
