p. 5 | ASKING by Eugene Leland

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Nov 3, 1898

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 24, No. 44.

ASKING

By Eugene Leland

“Ask, and it shall be given you; . . . for every one that asketh receiveth.” Matt. 7:7, 8. Ask for what? No one would think of asking for a thing which he already possesses, and so when we are admonished to ask, it is for things that we do not already own. But are there not other things for which we should ask aside from the things which we desire to possess, and which, perhaps, we ought to possess? Should we not ask for wisdom to know how to dispose of what is already ours as well as for what we do not have? It is as important to ask what disposition shall be made of what we already have as it is to ask for things which we do not have; for what we have is simply intrusted to us as stewards, and we are to dispose of it according to the mind of Him whose it is, and not according to our minds.

It is not, then, so much the things of this world for which we are to ask as for wisdom to know what disposition to make of what is already given into our hands. But the Lord says, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” So, tho we may have a barrelful of flour in the house, yet the Lord has taught us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” But why ask for that which we already have? That barrel of flour ought to supply us with bread not only for this day, but for many days besides. Ah, but it belongs to us only as stewards; and if the Lord wants us to dispose of it for the benefit of some one who needs it more than we do, we are to hold it in readiness to be given! In this way only can we consistently ask, “Give us this day our daily bread,” when we have bread enough in the house for many days.

The Lord wants His people to trust in Him for their daily bread, and not in a barrel of flour, or a bin of wheat; for “it is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” The fire may burn up that bin of wheat. The flood may destroy the standing grain. The dishonesty of men may deprive you of your hoarded treasure; for “all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away; but the Word of the Lord endureth forever.” The Lord is just as able to give wisdom in regard to the disposition that should be made of the barrel of flour as He is to give us flour; but someway we seem to find it much easier to ask for the flour when we really need it than we do to ask what disposition shall be made of it after we get it; and especially is this true when we don’t happen to need flour.

You have a thousand dollars deposited in the bank, and you are thinking of buying an addition to your farm, or of building another barn, or of getting some new furniture for your house; and that is all right if it is what the Lord would have done with that thousand dollars. But, remember, that money belongs to the Lord, and He wants you so to use it that His cause will be advanced. In short, the Lord wants to work in you to will and to do of His good-pleasure concerning the disposition that shall be made of that thousand dollars. He wants you to ask Him what disposition He would have you make of it, and then He would have you ask Him for grace to enable you to dispose of it in just that way.

This point is just where lies the danger of making a mistake. Your mind is so fully decided on having this addition to your farm that you have no doubt but that the Lord also wants you to have it, and so, instead of asking if it is His will that you should have those additional acres, you ask Him to speed the triumph of the Gospel in all the world, to send out laborers and keep them from getting discouraged, to bless the poor and the needy, and to relieve the wants of the distressed; but not one word do you ask concerning the disposition of that thousand dollars, a sum which would go a long way toward doing the very things you have asked the Lord to do. You have already disposed of that in your mind. You have decided to secure the addition to your farm, when the Lord knows, and you know too, that you already have so many cares and perplexities in consequence of having so many acres to look after that you can hardly spend time to worship Him as you ought.

“But then,” you reason, “if I only had those additional acres, I could make so much more money, and thus be able to help the cause of God along, and to relieve the distress of the needy.” Would you, tho? After you had secured those additional acres, you would need to say, “What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?” And you would need to pull down your barns and build greater. Besides, how do you know but that your soul will be required of you this night; “then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?” Will the Lord get back His own with usury? Or will you let your life-work be lost to the cause of God in this world, and yourself be lost to the world to come?

And then to think that one should sell himself so cheap when he can get so much simply for the asking! The Lord paid an infinite price, even the life of His own Son, simply for the purpose of granting us the privilege of receiving eternal life, with all its attendant blessings, and only upon the condition of asking. “Ask, and ye shall receive.”

EUGENE LELAND.

Bethel, P. Q.