The Answer Is Always Yes

A Lenten Moment

Jesus tells us to ask, to seek, to knock – and to do so confident of a good response. What are we to make, then, of the apparently negative responses we sometimes receive?

Jesus' statement comes immediately after he teaches his disciples to pray. From that time forward the Lord's Prayer has featured prominently in all our lives. Coming as it does right after this episode, Jesus' comment about God always answering our prayer has to be understood in the context of the prayer that he has just taught his disciples. If we look at that prayer carefully, we realize that Jesus teaches us to ask for the good things that we need in our lives. Unfortunately, we don't always approach it in this fashion. We ask not for what we need but for what we want! Jesus was teaching us that our heavenly Father would always answer us in our need, but, that like any good parent dealing with a spoiled child, he may not always give us what we want.

Heavenly Father, who always answers our prayers, help me to see your "yes" in the faces of those you place in my life.