Matthew 7:7-11 No Serpents!!!
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: February 11, 2019, Matthew 7:7-11
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
“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 the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
(Understanding the Text / Revelation of God) Implied in this promise is the promise that God will not give us evil, hurtful answers to our prayers. We are promised good things from God and have experienced that God is higher and much better than us, so why do we act as if God would treat us like an abusive parent? If the answer to our prayer is “no,” maybe it’s because the answer would be a stone, a fish, or a serpent. I don’t understand how this works because there are plenty of times when God has not given me what I asked for, and as far as I can see, it would not have been hurtful to me. I know that I don’t see as well as God, and that might be the answer, but I have a feeling that I am missing something else here. I just know that this is not a blanket “ask and get” promise, and I know that not getting something is not just because I don’t believe enough, but I don’t know what all the issues are.
On our part, it is implied that we need to state our choice. We need to verbally or in our mind actually ask for something. We need to go out looking for something. We need to actively knock on the door (literally or figuratively) before a result comes. Now, I know that the Holy Spirit takes our needs to God when we don’t or can’t actually ask for them. “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words” (Romans 8:26). I know that the seeking might be in different forms–mentally or spiritually as well as physically, and I know that these are just different ways of saying that when we desire something that is good for us, God will give it to us. However, it seems that in my observations, the answer comes after we take the first step toward the goal. Maybe, I’ve got that backwards. Maybe, the answer was there all along, but it was only visible once we started walking toward it. Or maybe our desires were so confused that they did not become clear and firm until we were heading toward one specific goal. Guzik’s commentary says that there is the idea of intensity in asking in these verses. “We see a progressive intensity, going from ask to seek to knock. Jesus tells us to have intensity and passion in prayer. God promises an answer to the one who diligently seeks Him. Many of our dispassionate prayers are not answered for good reason, because it is almost as if we ask God to care about something we care little or nothing about. i. God values persistence and passion in prayer because they show that we share His heart. It shows that we care about the things He cares about.”
Compared to God we are evil no matter how good we seem compared to other humans. We have selfishness written into our bones it seems. We withhold good things from each other and God because of our self-centeredness. However, a child brings out the selflessness in us and that is the time when God can draw a comparison between us and Him. It’s the time we are closest to Him, I think.
I find it interesting that the things asked for are food, necessities for living. Jesus is saying that when we ask for what we need to live that, of course, God will give them to us. God wants to give us what we need to live in partnership with Him mentally, spiritually, and physically.
Guzik’s commentary makes the point that these verses are also implying that we do not have to appease God when we pray. “Jesus makes it clear that God doesn’t have to be persuaded or appeased in prayer. He wants to give us not just bread, but even more than what we ask for.”
(Application / Prayer) My application for myself is that I need to trust in God’s goodness and willingness to give me answers to prayer and to open doors for me. I need to stop expecting God to be worse than even a rotten parent. Please help me to trust You to do good and not evil.