Keep Knocking

Matthew 7:7-12

Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child asked for bread, would give a stone? Or if the child asked for a fish, would give a snake? If you, then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him! In everything do to others as you would have them do to you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

I grew up in the church, I am one of those people who was born and raised in the Episcopal tradition. Faith mattered to my parents; they wanted to pass it down to my brother and me. But they weren’t very vocal about it. Beyond attending church and saying grace before meals, religious discussions were not a regular part of our home life. Faith was personal—something you had, something meaningful, but something between you and God.

It wasn’t until my teenage years that my curiosity about spiritual matters truly awakened. I found myself drawn to life’s big questions—Why are we here? What is life really about? How should I spend my time? God had always been part of my world, but I longed for something deeper than simply sitting in the back pew, singing hymns. I wanted more.

Then I encountered this passage—the words of Jesus we read today. “Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.” This single sentence gave me exactly what I was searching for: permission. Permission to ask, to seek, to knock. An invitation from God to wrestle with my questions, to explore my faith, and to make it my own rather than simply inheriting what had been handed down to me.

This passage spoke to me then, and it still speaks to me now. It reassures me of God’s promise—that when we earnestly seek, God meets us wherever we are. I never understood these words, as some people do, as a guarantee that God will give me whatever I asked for, as if God were a divine wish-granter. Instead, I heard in them an assurance that if I pursued my questions, if I longed for a connection with the Holy, if I knocked on the door of truth—then I would find a little something of what I was looking for. And time and again, that has proven true. Even now, I am still searching, still knocking, still discovering.

Our Lord is like a loving parent, kneeling with arms outstretched, calling a toddler to take those first wobbly steps in his direction. God will never force us to walk toward him, but God beckons, invites, and waits—longing for us to move toward his embrace of unfailing love. So, keep searching. Keep asking. Keep knocking. Because God is calling you—and he is waiting to receive you.

Blessings,
Randy+

prayer

Oh Lord my God, teach my heart this day where and how to see you, where and how to find you. You have made me and remade me, and you have bestowed on me all the good things I possess, and still I do not know you. I have not yet done that for which I was made. Teach me to seek you, for I cannot seek you unless you teach me, or find you unless you show yourself to me. Let me seek you in my desire, let me desire you and my seeking. Let me find you by loving you, let me love you when I find you.
—St Anselm

Daily Lenten meditations each have a companion morning prayer video offered by the same clergy.  View the YouTube playlist to find this meditation’s companion video, or to watch others.