I asked God for something, but then I continued on with life as though I had never asked Him for the blessing in the first place! In my head, I figured the answer was probably “no,” so I just went about my normal routine, brushing off the desire to have something I was sure God wasn’t going to give me. (It wasn’t anything sinful or outside of His will, I promise!)
Maybe it comes from years of disappointing moments, unfulfilling relationships, and ungranted wishes. Maybe it’s my pessimistic nature, doubtful that any such blessing could come to me. Maybe it just comes from my sinful nature refusing to see that God knows a lot better what I need than I do!
I realized that I wasn’t even giving God a chance to answer me! Perhaps His answer is “no” or “wait.” But perhaps His answer is “yes,” if I would just stop my own inner thoughts from shouting over His voice.
God longs for His children to ask Him for blessings. The Bible is filled with godly men and women who asked for His blessing and were granted their requests.
James 5:16b-18 says, “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. 17 Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18 Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.”
Solomon asked for wisdom in I Kings 3:9-10 – “‘Therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?’ 10 The speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing.”
Matthew 7:7 is one of the most quoted verses regarding petitioning the Lord for blessings – “”Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”
I knew all of these verses before I asked God for my own blessing, but I forgot to put into practice what is commanded in Matthew 21:22 – “And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”
So perhaps I just didn’t believe. I was trying to go to sleep, but I was wrestling with myself over whether I was even worthy of receiving a blessing from God! Of course I’m not worthy! None of us are because we are all sinners, unworthy of every good gift that He gives to us. But isn’t that the whole point of grace? When we ask Him for blessings, doesn’t that give Him an opportunity to prove His grace over and over again?
I currently don’t know the outcome of my request, whether God will grant my request now, have me wait for a better time, or refuse me because He has a better plan for me. He knows what is best, and I just have to trust in Him! But if I’m going to ask, I had better hope to receive! Otherwise, what’s the point of asking?
“Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him” (I John 5:14-15).
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