Goodness

 “Ask, and it will be given 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 asks for bread, will give a stone? Or if the child asks for a fish, will 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!" Matthew 7:7-11, NRSV

This is a passage I have heard for my entire life.  It and others like it promise that if we will ask for anything, even the impossible, God will do it.  As a charismatic Christian who believes that God not only has the power to perform miracles, but uses us to accomplish the supernatural, I have often heard the teaching that what we confess is what God will give.  In other words ‘name it and claim it’.  I’ve also admired the faith of people like Smith Wigglesworth and Marie Woodworth-Etter who seemed to be able to ask God for amazing miracles and receive them without fail.  Over and over the message I’ve received is that if I have enough faith God will provide the miracle.

The problem is that this has not typified my experience with asking.  Even the good things I’ve asked for have not always been given; the job in ministry, the money to be able to provide for another’s need or healing for someone who was suffering with illness. So many times I’ve asked with good intentions, proclaiming great faith and trusting God to meet the need.  And I think that is the problem.  My asking and my trust are in God to meet my own agenda. The problem is that when things do not go as I planned I can become disappointed or even disillusioned.  It is in these moments that doubt and questions about God’s goodness arise. 

While there are passages where Jesus tells us that faith is the key to unlocking a miracle, Matthew 7:6-11 does not.  Rather, in it God speaks to me of perseverance and even this characteristic is not based on my ability or great faith but on His goodness. That is the question that has been posed to my heart as I have meditated on this passage.  Will I believe that God is good even when I don’t receive my desired outcome?  Will I persevere in my asking not based on the fact that he’s giving me what I want but based on the fact that I know he is good? Will I trust that in his goodness he is fathering me and giving me what he knows I need?

These questions also challenge my understanding of what goodness actually is.  While a child may want her parents to give her chocolate and ice cream for breakfast, a good parent knows that healthy food is what the child needs.  While a child may not want to be disciplined, a good parent recognizes that discipline is the loving choice to make. Too often I, in my immaturity, seem to think that because God is not giving me what I think he should that he is not giving me anything at all.  In reality, by giving me oatmeal instead of ice cream he is giving me the best possible gift and demonstrating his love and goodness in my life. When I truly trust God’s goodness I will be able to preserver through undesirable circumstances because my perseverance is based on his unchanging character.  He is not good because he gives me what I want; he is good because that is who he is.

I believe that God desires us to ask for the things we want.  Ask him for the chocolate and ice cream.  Ask him for the ministry opportunity, the monetary provision and the healing.  However, recognize that underneath those requests should be the greater desire to receive from him a pure heart and a renewed mind.  If that is what I am ultimately seeking then I can trust his goodness to use any and all circumstances to do that work in my life. Ask, seek and knock not trusting in God to meet my agenda but trusting in His goodness to give me what is the ultimate good; to know God and become more like Jesus.  As the Psalmist writes, “when I awake I shall be satisfied, beholding your likeness” (Psalm 17:15, New Revised Standard Version). That is a request he has promised to answer with a resounding “Yes!”