Matthew 7:7
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
James 4:2-3
You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
Word Study
Ask – G160 αἰτέω aiteō, to ask, ask for (of other humans or God), demand
Thoughts…
Have you ever heard the Frank Sinatra song ”I did it My Way”? I really think these verses are the root of this song. God tells us in Matthew to ask. Why would He tell us to just ask? Well because He doesn’t want us to have to live all on our own. That would be such a lonely life.
Then in James, He tells us we are fighting and quarreling because we are trying to do it all on our own. All we have to do is ask. Hmmm…sounds a lot like Matthew. However, there is a little more in James.
God goes on to tell us when we ask we do not get what we want sometimes because we are asking selfishly. It isn’t that God doesn’t want to answer us and give us what we want, but what happens when you give your child every little thing they ask for? Yep, you end up with a spoiled child and you can give them things that aren’t good for them.
These verses do not contradict themselves. We are supposed to ask. Sometimes we just need to be prepared for the answer to be “No”.
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