Kids’ Persistent Questions

Today’s Reading:

• Matthew 6:5-7:6; Luke 6:37-42; Matthew 7:7-20; Luke 6:43-45; Matthew 7:21-29; Luke 6:46-49

Verse(s) to Ponder:

• Keep on asking, and you will received what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.… You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! So if 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. – Matthew 7:7, 9-11, New Living Translation

Thoughts:
I was just thinking today about the connection between persistent prayer and praying to a Heavenly Father.

As a human father, sometimes I wish that my children wouldn’t ask so persistently. My son Michael is really, really eager to visit the Discovery Place (and we’ve already been there several times, so his experience gives him a lot of motivation to return). And he will ask me, “Dad, can we go to the Discovery Place?”

So I’ll say, “Yes, Michael, we can go.”

And he asks an important question: “When, dad?”

It usually takes me a minute to decide when I would like to take him to visit the Discovery Place, but the answer often ends up being something like, “We’ll go there next week on Thursday.”

You would think that I’d get a huge cheer right then! After all, I have just told Michael not only that we’ll go to the Discovery Place, but I’ve committed myself to a set date. I can’t postpone it beyond then without breaking my word (and I am very reluctant to do that).

But Michael is usually not very happy with an answer like that. “Yes” isn’t enough. “Next Thursday” isn’t enough. He wants to go NOW. And what that usually means is that for the next week, he keeps asking me over and over and over, “Dad, can we go to the Discovery Place? Can we go now?”

As I said, being a human father, this isn’t the most pleasant experience in the world for me. I can become a bit impatient… not that anyone else would know what I’m talking about, right? I’ve given my son an answer, I’ve given him the promise of a good gift, and I’ve given him a specific time when he can expect to receive it. Sometimes I wish he would just trust me and wait patiently.

A lot of the things we ask God for are things that He has said “Yes” to, also. Health. Wisdom. Character. Safety. And He has told us when we can expect to have them in their fullness—when Jesus comes back. Sometimes He gives us an early taste of them, too. But often, He asks us to wait.

Somehow, that doesn’t do much to satisfy our desires. We want those good gifts from God, and we want to experience them—fully—now. And so we ask, and we keep on asking. And we knock, and keep on knocking. And God keeps telling us, as we read His Word, “Yes, when Jesus comes back.” And we keep begging Him, “How about today? How about now?”

The really amazing thing to me is this: through Jesus, God encourages us to keep begging and asking. God is better with His children than I am with my son. He not only knows how to give good gifts, but God is patient and understanding toward His children’s repeated requests. He loves to hear them! He wants to have the opportunity to tell all of us—not just me, but you, too—to tell all of us a big, wonderful “Yes” over and over again. Through His “Yes,” God reminds us that He loves us. As He reminds us of His plan to fulfill every promise through Jesus, God thrills at the opportunity to fill our minds and hearts with His love again. And so He loves to hear us ask for His good gifts, not just once, but repeatedly. Every time we ask, we give Him another opportunity to joyfully remind us of His loving plans.

Note: I have obviously been less than consistent about posting devotional thoughts for a while now, so I’m not going to claim that I’ll be consistent for the next few months, or that the blog will be centered around a certain theme (it was supposed to deal with faith-stretching verses this year). I just hope that these thoughts are still an encouragement to you, whenever they come your way.