Begging for Wisdom

A few days ago I was reading a devotional online (My Utmost for His Highest) and it was one of those readings that has stuck with me every day since. Luke 11:10 says, “For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” Since reading the devotional on the 9th I’ve seen these truths I’ve read about coming alive in my life every day. It’s been incredible. So, I wanted to share with you this devotional…

Ask if you have not received. There is nothing more difficult than asking. We will have yearnings and desires for certain things, and even suffer as a result of their going unfulfilled, but not until we are at the limit of desperation will we ask. It is the sense of not being spiritually real that causes us to ask. Have you ever asked out of the depths of your total insufficiency and poverty? “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God . . . ” (James 1:5), but be sure that you do lack wisdom before you ask. You cannot bring yourself to the point of spiritual reality anytime you choose. The best thing to do, once you realize you are not spiritually real, is to ask God for the Holy Spirit, basing your request on the promise of Jesus Christ (see Luke 11:13). The Holy Spirit is the one who makes everything that Jesus did for you real in your life.

“Everyone who asks receives . . . .” This does not mean that you will not get if you do not ask, but it means that until you come to the point of asking, you will not receive from God (see Matt. 5:45). To be able to receive means that you have to come into the relationship of a child of God, and then you comprehend and appreciate mentally, morally, and with spiritual understanding, that these things come from God.

“If any of you lacks wisdom . . . .” If you realize that you are lacking, it is because you have come in contact with spiritual reality— do not put the blinders of reason on again. The word ask actually means “beg.” Some people are poor enough to be interested in their poverty, and some of us are poor enough spiritually to show our interest. Yet we will never receive if we ask with a certain result in mind, because we are asking out of our lust, not out of our poverty. A pauper does not ask out of any reason other than the completely hopeless and painful condition of his poverty. He is not ashamed to beg— blessed are the paupers in spirit (see Matthew 5:3).

Appreciating “mentally, morally, and with spiritual understanding” the things that come from God isn’t always easy, nor is understanding “everything that Jesus did for you real in your life”. But just because its hard to appreciate or understand doesn’t mean when cannot seek the face of God for wisdom, understanding and provision. This week, don’t “put on the blinders of reason” and stop limiting what God can do when we ask in faith for His leadership in our life.