Keep On Keeping On...

Friends, I try to keep my blog from becoming a Bible Study...but let me share with you something that is seeping into me as of lately. In Matthew 7, Jesus says the following about how we should pray:

"Keep on asking, and you will be given what you ask for. Keep on looking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened. ⁸For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And the door is opened to everyone who knocks. ⁹You parents--if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? ¹⁰Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! ¹¹If you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him."

My College Professor, Dr. Cliff Sanders, taught us to always look for "laws of composition" that you can always find in a passage of text. Just like there are laws of nature that govern the universe, there are laws of composition that tend to govern the written word.

The above text is a familiar passage of Scripture for those who grew up in church. This is good and this is also bad. The negative effect of hearing/reading something so frequently is that if not careful, the message can begin to blend into what we think we already know. Am I making sense here? Let me go on...

One law of composition that we see sometimes in the written word is the law or repetition. A writer will often repeat words, phrases, motifs, etc. in order to bring emphasis to a certain thought. With this in mind, scroll back up and read the words of Christ one more time.

2 occurrences of the Law of Repetition are visible in this passage. "Keep on" is used 3 times and some form of "ask" is used 6 times in this passage. This may be a no-brainer to some of you, but for me, this was enlightening.

Jesus encourages us to pray to God and to not stop. God welcomes our prayer badgerings. Actually, according to Jesus, God is never bothered by us. God never feels badgered by our prayers. I think of the great movie, "Bruce Almighty". When God sees our prayers in his Yaweh Inbox, he does not roll his eyes and is not tempted to delete our prayer or to block any future prayers. God waits expectantly for our prayers. If God had a Caller-ID, he would always smile when he saw your name flash upon his screen. .

Jesus says to Keep On. Keep on asking. Keep on looking. Keep on knocking. Don't stop. Keep going.

To be truthful with you, I have stopped praying about certain things in my life. I have stopped asking. I have stopped looking. I have stopped knocking. I really felt like I was beginning to bother God...maybe becoming too obsesive with this prayer...maybe I should give it a rest...I bet I am the most annoying human God ever created. But Jesus reminds me here in Matthew 7, that the words: "Mercy, will this kid ever shut up and give up!?" are never voiced by God.

So I will begin again. I will begin tonight to keep on praying...to keep on knocking...to keep on looking...to keep on asking. …Which leads me to my final thought for the evening.

Jesus uses the action verb, “ask”, more than the others. In a way, this verb has a relationship built into it more so than the other action verbs. You can look for something/someone...you can knock on something (and I guess you can knock on someone...although, I'm not sure if they would appreciate that); but you can only sincerely pose a request to another being that has the ability to respond to that request. I say all that to really say that God truly wants to be in relationship with us. God really wants us to come to him and to ask him...and to KEEP ON asking him. Even more so, apparently there are some "good gifts" that God gives to only those that ask.

I went to this 2 hour informational meeting with my uncle on Monday about how to apply for government grants that are not very well known by the general population. It was pretty much a waste of our time; but time & time again, the facilitator reminded us that millions of dollars in government grants go unclaimed every year simply because no one applied for them. "How much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ASK him."

So I will begin again. I will keep on keeping on, keep on seeking & asking knowing that my heavenly Father truly wants to give me more than I even dare try to imagine.