God Doesn’t Want To Be Bothered

God Doesn’t Want to Be Bothered

[Jesus said,] “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7

“If I pray about a concern over and over, won’t God think I’m nagging? And doesn’t God just hate nagging? My mother taught me never to nag and that we only need to pray once about a need,” a young woman told me at a conference.

“If I pray more than once for a request, doesn’t it show I don’t have faith, so God won’t answer?” asked another.

Actually, quite the opposite is true. After Jesus gave his disciples what is known as the Lord’s Prayer, he assured them that the Father welcomes prayer, and in today’s verse, he encouraged them to be persistent. The verb tense used here for “asking,” “seeking,” and “knocking” in the original manuscript was present tense, with the sense of continue and keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking.

Just as an earthly father would never trick his children by giving them a stone instead of a round loaf of bread, or a snake when they wanted fish, our heavenly Father will much more abundantly reward his children spiritually for being persistent and persevering in their petitions. And there is more good guidance here: Although Jesus advised not using vain repetitions (meaning we’re not to use prayer as merely a religious ritual or to attract the attention of others), he didn’t say we should pray only once. In fact, many stories in the Bible tell of people who prayed multiple times: Elijah prayed seven times for rain before the drops fell from the sky (see 1 Kings 18:41-45). Jesus himself prayed three times in the garden of Gethsemane (see Matthew 26:36-44; Mark 14:32-41). Paul asked the Lord three times to remove the thorn in his flesh (see 2 Corinthians 12:7-8). Perseverance in prayer is never nagging. And just as I love to hear the voices of my own children and grandchildren when they call me, God loves to hear our voices. God wants us to ask him, and keep on asking, for the things on our hearts. —CHERI

Gracious Father, how wonderful it is to know that you love to hear my voice! Thank you for not looking on my persistent requests as nagging. Help me not to lose heart and give up.

Whether we like it or not, asking is the rule of the kingdom.

—CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON (1834–1892), BRITISH PREACHER