Don’t forget to Knock

The scriptures tell us to “ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” (Matthew 7:7)

I spent many years asking and never receiving. A trial would come along and I would ask God to please quickly make it better – to fix it. Then I would proceed to complain and vent to everyone and anyone who would listen hoping they would be able to fix my problem for me.  I just knew someone out there had the magic solution that would instantly make everything all better. I just had to find that person, and I did so by complaining to as many people as I could. After all Spencer W. Kimball taught that “it is usually through another person that [God] meets our needs.”

I eventually learned that I had the first part of that scripture down. I was really good at asking and seeking, however, I had forgotten about the last part of that scripture, the knocking part. Knocking takes work. It means we have to get out there and take action.

We have three cute little neighbor kids that love to play with my girls. They are too short to reach the doorbell so they have to knock. One day I was cooking in the kitchen and couldn’t immediately answer the door. They knocked and they knocked and they knocked – louder and more persistent each time, until someone finally answered the door. I think this is what God expects us to do.  He wants us to put forth the effort. Many times we may have to persistently knock until we get the results we want.

If I could rewrite the scripture it would go something like this:

“ASK Me, and I will help you as you SEEK for answers to the solution, and ye shall FIND it with My help; KNOCK -put forth the effort, don’t expect Me to just give it to you, and really do your best to learn and to solve this problem, and then I will allow the solution to be OPENED unto you.”