It Will Be Given To You

Thursday of the First Week in Lent

“And now, come to help me, an orphan.  Put in my mouth persuasive words in the presence of the lion and turn his heart to hatred for our enemy, so that he and those who are in league with him may perish.  Save us from the hand of our enemies; turn our mourning into gladness and our sorrows into wholeness.”  Esther C:24-25

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”  Matthew 7:7-8

Piety

Sing a new song unto the Lord; let your song be sung from mountains high.
Sing a new song unto the Lord, singing alleluia. (By Dan Schutte)

Study

Often in Sacred Scripture, we encounter Jesus teaching us directly how to pray (“Our Father…”) as well as Jesus teaching us of the disposition we should have when we pray (The parable of the praying tax collector and Pharisee, the persistent widow or the unforgiving servant) or the environment in which we should pray (privately).     

Matthew might oversimplify what is needed for prayers to be answered. Just ask.  Mark, has a similar passage but adds a key qualifier to the simple act of asking in prayer.  “All that you ask for in prayer, believe that you will receive it and it shall be yours.”  (Mark 11:24).  Just ask but ask justly.  The Marcan first step is asking…but the request must come from a platform held up by faith and belief. 

One might say if you have the courage to ask God for anything, then that very action -- in and of itself -- must therefore be evidence of belief.  Perhaps.  I wonder if requests can be of a desperate nature that when a person turns to God when all else fails if their prayers would be answered.

Matthew, though, may be correct.  Maybe there is no qualifier.  After all, in the parable of the prodigal son, just the act of turning to head home was cause enough for the father – every on the lookout for the returning son – to come running to greet him.

Action

Sometimes when I read this passage, I picture the Lord as the Great Disk Jockey at a wedding reception or party.  Everyone wants to come up to Him with their song request.  What is your request?  Will you ask for an old standby during this Lenten season or will you ask to sing an entirely new song for the Lord?

Will you go one step further and not just ask for the Lord to play you a new song but will you pick up your trumpet, tambourine or saxophone and play for the Lord? 

All this music will make it difficult to sleep-walk indifferently through Lent.  But it will be music to the ears of the Prodigal Father.