"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."
Matthew 7:7-8 NASB
Have you ever heard knocking at your door unexpectedly? Do you feel like answering when it is inconvenient for you? Do you ignore it? Or simply don't want to deal with any one at the door? The answer is obviously going to be different for each of us. Some will prefer to ignore it if it is not urgent. Others may not feel like answering the door. Eventually the person on the other side will have to give up and go.
I believe and am convinced that God "knocks" on our door many times. Unfortunately we ignore His calling. We may deceive ourselves into thinking that it is not urgent. We may fear what might happen if we answer His knock. It is sad when we want Him to go away and we ignore His gentle knocking. Will He knock again? God never forces His way through our door. He has given us free will. He waits patiently for us to answer His knock. He is patiently waiting for us!
Jesus is reminding us to seek and knock in order to find Him. He will open His door only if we indeed purpose in our heart, mind and soul to pursue Him. The one who seeks finds. The one whose door opens, knocks. We diligently pursue God, when we start seeking Him and thus we find God. Sadly, we give up the phase of seeking and finding too soon. We think we have found God, but after a few half-hearted attempts, we determine He is not as great as we thought. We think God is not worth changing our lives of sin for lives of righteous living. We deceive ourselves thinking it is too much work, thus we are discouraged and we cease caring about our souls.
The key is our knocking. Notice that God tells us that the one who seeks finds. But that's not the end. There is more to do. Those who knock at the door will have the door opened to them. This means we have sought God and have found Him. Then once the door is opened we are to pursue and seek Him by continuing to knock at His door. Notice the relationship is mutual. He wants and demands that we love, pursue and seek Him with all of our heart, mind and soul. There is no way around it!
To pursue God with all of our heart, soul and mind means knocking on His door daily with an abiding faith, obedience, determination and patience. This is a daily decision we must make in order that we may see Him and walk with Him. Likewise, this requires daily prayer, asking our Lord to provide all that we need in abundance in order that we may seek Him. We must purpose in our hearts to knock at His door daily seeking His wisdom and guidance in order to do His will. Remember, He that is faithful has promised to open the door to us if we diligently seek Him. He is not saying He might open the door, He is reassuring us that He will open the door for us. God is faithful and keeps His promises. Let's never forget that!
In Revelation 3:20, God tells us, ” Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me."
God has promised us that if anyone hears His voice and opens the door, He will eat with him and vice versa. But in order that we may enter and dine with Him, we must hear His voice. That means we must take the step of opening the door to His calling and instruction. We must never forget that our relationship with God depends a lot on our own actions and response to His calling. Our actions must be that of pursuing Him, knocking on His door and opening the door when we hear Him knocking on ours. We are to open it and let Him in. "The way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, But He loves one who pursues righteousness." Proverbs 15:9 NASB.
“He must turn away from evil and do good; He must seek peace and pursue it." I Peter 3:11 NASB.
Again, Peter instructs us to take two steps: A seeking step and an action step. According to Peter, we must seek peace but we cannot stop there. We must then pursue peace. God demands and expects action from us. Notice He says pursue Me and knock at My door. The Word of God here gives us a beautiful picture of a mutual relationship with God. One tells us that we are to seek, find and knock and the other one tells us that He is standing and knocking and that we are to open the door. He knocks at our door, but we also knock at His. God tells us, "I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me." When we determine in our heart to pursue Him, that is when we have that mutual relationship with Him partaking of His bread of life. Then the door will be opened to us. We will then be able to partake of His love, abide in Him and know Him.
When you feel that God is silent, keep pursuing Him! Why struggle? To find Him requires a lot of perseverance knocking at His door. Don't lose heart. I guarantee you He will knock back at your door. Remember His promise. He will open the door! God is faithful and keeps His promises. The door has been opened to me and definitely it will be opened to you too. "He who pursues righteousness and loyalty finds life, righteousness and honor." Proverbs 21:21 NASB.
We must be willing to humble ourselves before His throne by asking Him to give us wisdom to respond to His knocking at our door. We must persevere in knocking at His door while we walk His path and have the confidence that our door will be opened by Him.
May God help us to always remember that when we ask, we will receive. May He also help us to pursue His righteousness and His peace departing from evil with a diligent and sincere heart.
Luci
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