Just Ask! 

Week 49

Luke 11: 5-13
 
I am old enough to remember the days when stopping a stranger in the street to ask for directions was not unusual. These days of course, just about everyone has satnav in their cars or on their phones and we can find our way to almost anywhere quite easily. But as a naturally inquisitive type, I often have lots of other questions, most of which are not remotely important but simply satisfy my desire for knowledge, particularly when my wife and I are watching the television.
 
“What has he been in?” “How old is she?” “What is his restaurant called?” These are all questions that crop up as we relax at home. Like many others, I immediately pick up my phone and turn to Google for a quick answer that could make me look very smart! Alternatively, there is even a site called Just Ask. In fact, there appears to be a site specifically designed to answer questions on any subject from the law, health matters, the history of art, and even the subject of silly questions themselves such as, “Do you think if anything is possible, it’s still possible for anything to be impossible? Really! It almost feels like every problem we have in life can be answered by Google and its competitors.
 
Unfortunately, if we don`t ask the right questions we will often end up with confusing answers. Go to the wrong source and life can become unnecessarily troublesome. This was highlighted recently when more than $120bn was wiped off Google’s market value after its new artificial intelligence search assistant Google Bard provided a wrong answer to a question about a NASA telescope.
 
Some of us, however, simply don’t like asking questions. We would much rather try to solve problems on our own. The result is rarely what we hoped for because we have not gone to the only reliable source of perfect answers. In the book of James, the writer says, “You do not have what you want because you do not ask God for it. And when you ask, you do not receive because your motives are all wrong; you ask for things for your own pleasures” (James 4:2-3).
 
We all want a degree of pleasure in our lives but when we put it ahead of what God wants for us our priorities are misplaced. We also fail to recognise that what God wants for us is infinitely better than anything we, ourselves can imagine, as James says, “God gives generously and graciously to all” (James 1:5).
 
God isn’t going to answer our questions and prayers by giving us something horrible, or that we would hate. His plans for us are perfect and specifically made to fit us (Jer 29:11). He has also given us our own personal satnav – the Bible - that can help us to navigate even the toughest terrain. It has answers to every question we need to ask about our lives. It guides, comforts, and inspires us to do the things that lead to the very best life, the life that God has already mapped out for us. It’s why Jesus said, “And so I say to you: ask, and you will receive; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For all those who ask will receive, and those who seek will find, and the door will be opened to anyone who knocks……” (Luke 11: 9-10).
 
Maybe it’s time for you to just ask God what he has in store for you. You will not be disappointed.
 
 
Prayer: Father, thank you that you love each and every one of us. Help us to put aside worldly pleasures and trust in You to bless us with Your will for our lives in the knowledge that it is infinitely better than ours.