My youngest son Gavin comes to me often when he wants something, whether it be a snack or a glass of chocolate milk. He knows that, if he wants or needs something, he can ask Mom for permission and help. He also realizes that, if he asks with a hug and a smile, he will have a better chance at getting it! He is not quite tall enough to get to the cups in the cabinet or to reach the milk in the back of the refrigerator. He understands that if he tries to get them himself, something could get spilled or broken, and he could get hurt. He knows he must ask. Each of my children have had situations where they did not ask for help, and by refusing to do what they knew they should have, things did not turn out the way they had anticipated. They knew the help was there, but they simply refused to ask.
The Bible says in Isaiah 7:10-12, Moreover the LORD spake again unto Ahaz, saying, Ask thee a sign of the LORD thy God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above. But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the LORD.
When I was reading over these verses, the Holy Spirit kept bringing me back to the phrase, …I will not ask… Here we see that God went to Ahaz again, which means God had gone to him already before this. As Christians, how many times day in and day out do we go to God for help? How often do we try to do things in our own strength, instead? Just like my son has not grown enough to reach the milk, we as Christians are not grown enough to acheive perfection in our Christian lives. We need God and His help to reach our potential for Him.
Those verses also say, …ask it either in the depth, or in the height above. God desires to hear all of our wants and needs. We should never think that anything is too silly to pray about or that it is too small of a request for our Saviour. Many times, I have prayed the “simple” things like, “Lord, please help me to find my child’s missing shoe so that we won’t be late.”
Are we too stubborn to ask for His help? Ahaz said, …I will not ask… How tragic this response is! Perhaps, he said this out of mere foolish pride. Maybe, he did not want to go to God because of unconfessed sin and thought, “If I go to God, I will need to get this right with Him first before He will hear me and answer me.”
The Bible says in Matthew 7:7-8, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
What do we need or want in our lives that we will not ask of God? Why are we refusing to ask for His help? Are we being like Ahaz in our prayer life?
We can all think back to the times in our lives when we refused to ask God to do big things in our lives and with us trying to do things in our own strengths. He wants us to ASK! He wants us to grow closer to Him by bringing all of our needs and wants to Him. Let today be the day we decide to lay aside the prideful attitude of Ahaz. Let us turn from the “I will not ask” attitude to the surrendered heart, willing to ask God for anything, big or small. When we make this necessary change in our lives, we can claim the wonderful promise from God’s Word of …every one that asketh receiveth… All we have to do is just ask.
by Mandy Harper