Moving Mountains
Have you been asking but not getting? “For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. … If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:10, 13 ESV) There is often confusion and disappointment when we turn to the Lord in times of trouble, and we seek, ask and knock, but don’t appear to receive, find or are welcomed? The parables of our Lord endeavor to explain God the Father to us in terms and stories that we can understand. But often even that doesn’t work. Not long ago, while in a casual conversation on a complex technical issue, a physician acquaintance asked me, “how does one re-engineer a specific type of blood cell”? My head shaking reply was “I have no idea what-so-ever”! We are all laymen when it comes to understanding or trying to explain something quite unique to someone equally confused and God is the most unique “something” in the universe and beyond. So trying to understand God is a very individualistic journey. The critical reference in the verse above is about our personal expert guide, “give the Holy Spirit to those who ask”! There is nothing else more valuable which God can give us than a part of himself, whether it be His Son or His Holy Spirit. So when we are asking for some-thing, we must first remember that God long ago God gave us His Son. Then deeply consider that God also offered us His Holy Spirit. Other “things” we ask for in the moment are of less consequence to God than what He’s already given or offered, and that we too often have failed to fully appreciate.
In Luke 11 we may be confused by the striking yet unrecognized differences between the relationship of Jesus to the Father and us to our fathers or our children to us. Jesus wasn’t just a good son, He is the perfect Son. Whatever He asked for He received, and It’s His nature to ask only for what is His Father’s will. He didn’t ask for himself, he asked only for others. We can ask for the Holy Spirit at any time but to ask and hope for a “mountain” to be moved, we first need to understand God’s will. God gives without anyone asking whatever He chooses to. Our will must be aligned with God’s will for us to move mountains by asking. Knowing God’s will requires knowing God.
JC Calkins with COMMON SENSE 4 UNCOMMON PEOPLE (share)
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