“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” (Mat 7:7-8 NKJV)

There are times when requests are made to God through prayer and answers unfold right before our eyes shortly thereafter, and times when we don’t get what we expect from Him. Indeed, joy fills the heart during those moments when we get the answers that we were hoping for, but when we don’t see any sign of what is expected, doubts infiltrate the mind and it is assumed that God isn’t listening.

But is it true that when we don’t get what we want from God that that means He isn’t listening, or could it be that we don’t receive what we want from Him because we merely ask for it? In other words, could it be that we’re merely asking God to give us things, while disclosing that we aren’t willing to give Him what He wants from us?

Now don’t get me wrong here; I’m not suggesting that God only gives when He receives. God isn’t like that at all. To the contrary, He gives even before we ask. However, He doesn’t always give us what we want; instead, He gives us what we need!

Therefore, it could be possible that God has already answered our prayers, except that His answer didn’t come to us in a package that appealed to our taste, which leads me to believe that it is for this reason that Jesus didn’t just stop at, “Ask, and it will be given to you…”, but went on to say, ’seek’ and ‘knock’.

You see, what Jesus is telling us is that a relationship with God isn’t supposed to be about asking for things; rather, it’s about following His direction and enjoying His presence each step of the way. For God knows what we need better than we do and would never give us anything less than what’s best to help us to arrive at the destination where we ought to be—where we will find true happiness.

Perhaps it may seem like things just aren’t working out for you right now. Maybe the hardships that you’re going through have left you feeling like God doesn’t care. Yours is just another case of a broken heart and unanswered prayers.  If this is how you feel, then I have something to tell you:

Trials and hardships are not enemies of faith; rather, they are opportunities to prove the works of faith.

God may not necessarily give you what you’re looking for; however, He will always give you what you need. But you won’t know what is needed without asking and seeking and knocking first. For once you do all of these things the door will be opened to you and you will see things as they really are and be thankful that you followed the course that God led you on.

Allow me to emphasize that point again, but in a different way:  life may seem a little hazy right now, but if you are willing to do what God wants you to do and go wherever He leads you, the door of understanding will be opened unto you in due time.  Thus you will discover that you never missed out on anything that was needful to incur true happiness with God, and you will know that His joy was with you each step of the way.

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