Matthew 7:11, commentary and pictures

If even people who are evil know how to give good gifts to their children, the Father in heaven will much more give good things to those who ask him. He is far more willing and ready to give than the most loving earthly parent, for he is tender, merciful, patient, all-wise and all-powerful, and he has already given heaven's richest gift in Jesus Christ. The good things he promises are summed up in the Holy Spirit, the greatest of all gifts in whom every good thing is comprised. Asking means coming to him directly as a child to a parent, with simple, humble, living and unfaltering trust that takes him at his word, asking earnestly and persistently and not to serve selfish pleasure. Every sincere prayer of an honest heart is heard, and the answer comes in the way and at the time that his wisdom sees is truly good and most needed.

Words and Sermon Setting

If even people who are evil know how to give good gifts to their children, the heavenly Father will much more give good things to those who ask Him. The contrast assures those who ask that God is more generous and trustworthy than human parents, and His generosity is greater than their care. It encourages trust in Him when asking for good things, assures believers of the privilege of coming to God in prayer and asking in faith, and calls for confidence in asking. Christ's life and loving work expose unbelief, and the promise calls people to ask God.

The saying belongs to Christ's instruction to ask, seek, and knock, which is part of the genuine science of higher education for physicians and ministers of the gospel. It is part of the Sermon on the Mount where Christ disappointed hope of worldly greatness and undid false education to give a right conception of His kingdom and His own character. Its truths lay out the foundation principles of the kingdom of God and the conditions of entrance into it, teaching something infinitely better than men had known without directly attacking error and leaving hearers to draw their own conclusions as to its nature, and they are no less important now than to the multitude on the hillside. In that setting the teaching supports the kingdom's principles of divine grace: God has given Christ, heaven's best gift, to redeem humanity, and His saving grace is full and sufficient. The sermon in every way opposed the theories and practice of the self-righteous scribes and Pharisees, corrected their misrepresentation of God as a stern judge incapable of compassion, mercy, and love, and swept away misrepresentation so that confidence in the love of God is restored.

It presents God in His paternal love as Father in heaven, teaching men to address the Supreme Ruler of the universe by the new name Our Father, which signifies His true relation to us and when spoken in sincerity is music in His ears, and leads men to the throne of God by a new and living way. Its far-reaching principles are to be impressed on new converts so they understand that the spirit of God's law must be in the heart, for the state of the heart regulates life and character. It belongs to the pure gospel teaching given on the Mount, where God's law is explained.

Calling God Father expresses love and trust and reflects His regard and relationship to those He has redeemed and made members of His family. Calling Him Father expresses His paternal love and true relation to people as His redeemed family, and He is the Father of all people, without distinction of color, nationality, strength, or wealth, so that anyone may ask Him for what is needed. His love and generosity exceed even the love of earthly parents: if they know how to give good gifts to their children, the heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.

The promise is illustrated by a hungry child asking his earthly father for bread and for fish. Even though men are evil, they know by tender natural affection how to give good gifts to their children, giving bread and not a stone and fish and not a serpent. No true father's heart would turn from a hungry son, trifle with him, tantalize him by raising expectations only to disappoint him, or promise nourishing food and give a stone, serpent, or scorpion instead. Asking God with trust is therefore not met with cruelty or deliberate disappointment, and those who plead His promises and seek His salvation need not fear that He will give them harm or deception instead. God does not answer those who ask Him for what they need with harm or disappointment, but satisfies their needs from His abundant fullness, and those who come to Him aware of their helplessness and their need for power only God can give can rely on His generous care.

The comparison argues from a parent's natural love for a child to God's greater willingness to hear and answer, proving He is more willing to give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him than evil human parents are to give good gifts to their children. The good gift specifically assured here is the Holy Spirit, the representative of God Himself, the greatest of all gifts in which all good things are comprised, than which the Creator can give nothing greater or better. When the distressed ask pity and guidance by the Holy Spirit, God never turns away prayer and never rejects the cry of the needy and longing heart, though even a human parent may turn away from a hungry child. To dishonor God by imagining He will not respond to His children is wrong, and this is comfort to those in darkness who feel God is unmindful and has forsaken them, for His love is more tender and unfailing than a nursing mother's compassion. The heavenly Father withholds no good thing and is ready to bestow the rich blessings of Heaven promised to every believer who needs to be melted over and purified from all dross, and asking is not to be restricted to certain things, but God will bless according to the riches of His grace.

Christ taught sufferers to come to Him for help knowing they would not seek in vain, for as evil human parents know how to give good gifts to their children, the Father in heaven will far more surely give good things to those who ask Him. The promise belongs with asking and receiving, seeking and finding, knocking and opening. Christ lived this giving through a life filled with deeds of mercy and compassion to bring light and joy and grace to others, desiring every heart filled with His joy even when weary and needing rest. The humble and contrite who cultivate tender compassion understand what it means to be one with Christ in God and receive these gifts.

Father's Loving Character

The verse teaches that God is far more willing and ready than sinful earthly parents to give good gifts to those who ask Him, and that willingness is reason for hope and courage in difficulty. If people despite their evil nature know how to give good gifts to their children, He is much more ready to give good things, so people should ask Him more often and praise Him, coming with a child's trust confident in His generous care. That greater willingness applies to the gift of the Holy Spirit and divine grace and power, which Christ is especially willing to give and believers may receive with certainty by asking the Lord. It gives workers reason to pray earnestly for the Spirit's baptism and for special help and heavenly wisdom to plan and carry out their work. The Father asks only that each person do his best, and if anything is lacking it should be asked for and it will be received, for He supplies human lack out of His own sufficiency, covering daily work and studies and teaching faithfulness in little and large things from lessons in nature and from Christ, as He helped Daniel.

His character behind the promise is tender, merciful, patient, loving, paternal, all-wise and all-powerful, and it is His nature to bestow His gifts liberally and freely to all who ask in faith by His own glory and virtue. He is more merciful, more tender, more patient and loving than any earthly parent, and no human parent could plead as earnestly with an erring child as God pleads with sinners. He draws people to Himself by endearing language and by the disclosure of the tenderest sympathy flowing from His heart of love, so they may have courage and confidence to pray, and no one who comes to the Lord sincerely will be disappointed. He has already given Jesus Christ, heaven's richest and best gift, even His only begotten Son, to redeem humanity so that whoever believes should not perish but have everlasting life, and His saving grace is full and sufficient and His promises trustworthy, so He will not withhold what He can give. God's gift of His Son for the life of the world makes it possible for people placed in right relation to Him to work with the Saviour in self-denial and self-sacrifice, and through Christ as constant advocate and intercessor He is waiting to give grace and power to sinners who look to Him and live. Weak faith fails to avail itself of these rich, glorious promises.

The Father delights to help and gives His best and choicest provisions that meet great need from His storehouse filled with good things for those who walk uprightly and from His abundant fullness, being rich in mercy, power, and love. Prayer offered in faith opens the storehouse of heaven because He invites asking and holds Himself responsible to hear and answer, and trusting His wisdom and power gives strong faith with peace and comfort. His children should make large calls upon Him for the bread of heaven, and if they ask He will certainly give His grace abundantly with generous liberality. That promise calls for unfaltering trust that works by love and purifies the soul, and gives confidence to seek His grace and salvation. Opening the heart to the Spirit of God lets Him work through the one who asks and bless the labor.

Good Gifts Promised

The good things the Father promises are the Holy Spirit, as Luke's account makes explicit, freely given by God's own glory and virtue to all who ask in faith. There is no reason to doubt the promise, for it is sure and steadfast and meant to inspire faith in disciples through all time, and it may be claimed personally in prayer while resting in God's love without doubt. Those who seek God should desire and thirst for the Spirit as they seek godliness, with simple faith that takes God at His word, since receiving depends on asking and seeking the things of God and not on being spiritually good enough. Christ has bound Himself not to disappoint those who truly seek this help, and those who receive it can testify to its work in their hearts, lives, and characters. They must ask in faith, persist earnestly, and wait and receive in faith, recognizing their need and spiritual poverty, for God gives the Spirit and the power needed to resist temptation and live for His glory.

The Spirit so promised is the representative of God Himself, the greatest of all gifts, in whom all good things are comprised and than which the Creator can give nothing greater or better. When the distressed ask pity and guidance by the Spirit, God never turns away prayer and never rejects the cry of the needy and longing heart, though even a human parent may turn away from a hungry child. The blessings are those Christ purchased and brought within reach in this world, with Christ as the Tree of Life whose branches reach to earth, including strength instead of weakness and efficiency instead of inefficiency. They include the gift of the Comforter presenting the fruit from the Tree of Life to pluck and eat, the cooperation of heavenly angels to make believers living agencies blessing the world, and the privilege of guiding others to the tree that they also may eat. What was withdrawn from humanity because of apostasy is restored through the plan of redemption to those who sincerely desire the gift, and awareness of real need and spiritual poverty leads to earnest prayer for the Spirit's enlightenment.

The promised Spirit gives guidance, enlightenment, true wisdom, efficiency, and power for God's servants and the church. Joining human asking with God's response is a sure law of divine government, and those who seek the Spirit in faith receive Him and can testify to His work in their hearts and lives. Christ will not disappoint true seekers when they ask for this guidance, and those who serve God may pray for it and believe God will answer. Rich blessings are in store for the church if its members come into position to receive them by purifying the defiled soul temple, cultivating kindness, gentleness and love in heart, family and church, refining thought, desire and action, looking constantly to Jesus instead of at brethren's faults, personally seeking the Lord, humbling themselves, setting hearts in order with complete consecration and willingness to do and suffer cheerfully for Christ, hiding in Jesus and abiding in Him. The Spirit is the efficiency and power of all God's servants, greatly needed now, to be remembered when organizing churches and establishing schools, for losing sight of it leaves members without sense of need, unconnected with the Source of all power, short of God's desired advancement, unconverted in heart and unchanged in character, unready for the Lord's coming and unable to help others prepare.

The promise embraces all needs, offering spiritual nourishment from the heavenly banquet spread before the needy soul, grace and strength day by day, good to the soul, and the bread of heaven. God stands behind the promise, giving grace to those who will share with people in need, so requests are not to serve only one's own interests but to equip the asker to benefit others. The good things asked for include help, counsel, direction, and salvation, strength for daily strife against evil and to reveal grace through believers, and help sent to every soul who asks in faith, with heavenly angels sent to help even the weakest believer, the same help provided to people of every rank and circumstance. Human need should lead to earnest prayer that moves God, and the gifts include temporal necessities and the preservation of life and of the powers needed to serve God. They include strength to resist temptation and overcome sinful appetites and indulgences, for earnest prayer and living faith bring the seeker into connection with the Hearer of prayer, and those who come to God in mercy and trust His promise can be sure of receiving the best heavenly gifts as the source of the strength and power Christ received in His humanity.

The good things include grace to obey, for Christ gives grace to those who obey. He is more willing to give power to remain steadfast than people are to ask, giving steadfastness instead of being swayed this way and that, the good things including the Spirit. Asking for righteousness as simply and trustfully as a child asks an earthly parent is answered, for God grants the heart's desire. The promised gift is divine grace and the power of the Spirit, which believers may receive by asking the Lord in earnest, humble prayer. Such asking must be in faith with expectation, not asking and then going on as if nothing will be received, and not asking to use what is given for selfish pleasure, but living soberly and asking at every step what Jesus would have done.

Asking in Childlike Faith

Prayer is to speak to God directly as a child speaks to a parent, telling Him plainly what is needed and expecting those wants to be regarded. It is to come with a child's simplicity, humility, and complete confiding trust, rather than leaning on human wisdom and depending on human guidance for duty. In His sight all are little children, babes in knowledge and understanding, whether grown, learned, noble, or rich, and Christ holds the same tender relation to them that a father holds to his children. Because flawed human parents still know how to give good gifts to their children, the heavenly Father will far more surely give good things to those who ask Him, so every member of the family has reason to come humbly in faith and present petitions. To doubt after professing His service that He will hear, when He gave His infinite sacrifice to redeem the fallen, is cruel and misrepresents Him.

Asking must be with living, active, simple, and unfaltering faith that takes God at His word and believes the request will be granted. Feeling is not to be made the criterion, nor is anyone to demand a particular answer or wait for a special feeling, and no one should ask and then go on as if nothing will be received. Nurtured unbelief is to be cut away, for asking without faith is sin and leaves a person unable to recognize or appreciate the blessing, while weak, uncertain faith fails to use the rich promises in store for those who walk uprightly. His Word is unchangeable, and He knows human helplessness and lack of righteousness and will come in to fill the lack, so cases should be presented frequently in belief that He will do just as He has said. He bestows every needed blessing when asked with simplicity and faith, as a hungry child asks an earthly father for bread, and blessings prayed for in childlike trust rather than by sight come when most needed.

Seekers are to ask earnestly, humbly, and persistently, to wait and receive in faith, and to seek divine help in every trial and temptation with steady, constant faith. They may claim the promise through the day, approaching ready to be taught and willing to submit plans to His will, and they must not let distrust of self become disbelief in the promise. The weak and timid are especially welcome to come for counsel, direction, help, and strength, trusting that He hears and saves, and such asking is not futile. Prayer is as necessary to the Christian life and growth in grace as food is to physical life, giving the bread of heaven, strength for duty, and peace of heart, and rich blessings are in store for the church when its members purify the soul temple, cultivate kindness, gentleness, and love, refine thought, desire, and action, look constantly to Jesus, seek the Lord personally, humble themselves, set the heart in order in complete consecration, and abide in Him.

Asking is not to serve only one's own interests or to use what is given for selfish pleasure, but to equip the asker to benefit others and share grace with people in need. God stands behind the promise and supplies human lack out of His own sufficiency, asking only that each do his best, so lack in daily work and studies should be asked for and will be received, teaching faithfulness in little and large things. It calls for sober living and asking at every step what Jesus would have done, with expectation of steadfastness instead of being swayed, and for shunning pride and self-sufficiency that hinder His work as the great Leader mighty in counsel. He wants His children to feel their weakness so they will ask, seek His counsel, acknowledge His power, and ask especially for what will enable Him to reveal His grace through them, for those for whom Christ gave His life obey His will in order to share the joys prepared for all who reflect His character.

How God Answers

Every sincere prayer from an honest heart offered in faith is heard and answered, and God holds Himself responsible to hear it. Believers may plead for His blessing and for power to live as His children without wearying Him, and asking for help, counsel, direction, and strength for the weak is never in vain. The promise encourages asking in faith for the help His servants need, for provision for workers and for opened hearts to sustain their faith, courage, and labor.

God's wisdom determines what is truly good, and like a loving parent who refuses what would harm a child He withholds what would injure and gives instead what is good, healthful, needed, and for His glory. Asking for bread does not bring a stone or a scorpion, nor harm or deception, but satisfaction of need from His abundant fullness, and He will not withhold what He can give for good. Answers may not come immediately, so trust in His promises is to continue without wavering or discouragement.

The blessing comes when it is most needed, often beyond expectation and more than can be asked or thought, and no true prayer offered in faith from an honest heart is lost. The answer may not come in the way or at the time expected, but it comes in the way and at the time that best meets the need and is for the person's best good. This holds even for prayers offered in loneliness, weariness, and trial, which are answered not always according to expectation but always for good, with prayer as necessary to Christian life and growth in grace as food is to physical life.

The promise belongs to each person individually and to every member of the family, not only to leaders, and to all who believe and know Jesus as personal Saviour. Each believer is to wait on the Lord personally, present petitions humbly, and rest on His sure word rather than depend on human leaders. He is Father of all without distinction of color, nationality, strength, or wealth, so anyone may ask for what is needed, the weak and timid are especially welcome, and servants may pray for the Holy Spirit's guidance and believe for an answer.

Because the Father gives good things to those who ask, seekers should ask more often, expect the blessing, and praise Him. They are to be hopeful and cheerful with hearts filled with thanksgiving and praise, looking on the bright side and not the dark side, talking faith and hope and courage, and holding fast to divine power. His willingness gives reason for hope and courage in difficulty.

Daily Life Applications

The promise gives workers reason to ask in faith for the help they need, trusting that the heavenly Father hears and provides far more readily than even sinful parents give good gifts to their children. Applied to Nashville, it means asking God to supply the means and help the workers require, to open hearts to support them, and to sustain their faith, courage, and labor. For the work more broadly it means praying earnestly for the baptism of the Spirit with special help and heavenly wisdom to plan and carry it out. That same help comes to every soul who asks in faith, with heavenly angels sent to aid even the weakest believer in every rank and circumstance. The power of the Spirit is the efficiency of all God's servants and is greatly needed now, to be remembered when organizing churches and establishing schools, for losing sight of it leaves members unconnected with the Source of power, without sense of need, short of the advancement God desires, unconverted in heart and unchanged in character, unready for the Lord's coming and unable to help others prepare.

Giving bread rather than a stone governs both feeding the flock and personal witness. Those who feed God's people are to provide what is spiritually nourishing and helpful, not what lowers the standard God expects His people to meet. Having received grace and experienced Christ's love, believers share what God has done for them and pass on the good received, with Christ in the heart making their words life-giving like bread through sincere speech, tenderness, compassion, and the uplifting of others. The Father asks only that each person do his best, supplying lack out of His own sufficiency to all who ask and receive, and this covers daily work and studies, learning faithfulness in little and large things from lessons in nature and from Christ, as He helped Daniel.

The instruction to ask, seek, and knock belongs to the genuine science of higher education for physicians and ministers of the gospel. Its far-reaching principles from the Sermon on the Mount are to be impressed on new converts, so they understand that the spirit of God's law must be in the heart and that the state of the heart regulates life and character. Trials that reveal human helplessness teach the same lesson, leading people to call on God with childlike dependence, confident that as a loving father answers a child's need He can provide abundantly even when circumstances seem barren.

The promised generosity gives confidence to seek grace and salvation from One rich in mercy, power, and love. Prayer brings people to God as the source of the strength and power Christ received in His humanity, and those who come in mercy and trust the promise can be sure of receiving the best heavenly gifts. Earnest prayer and living faith bring the seeker into connection with the Hearer of prayer, with assurance of help to resist temptation and overcome sinful appetites and indulgences. God as tender parent is to be approached with needs, and in sickness He takes up the case as Physician and heals completely, giving reason to rejoice and glorify Him. He hears every struggling cry and every effort against temptation, giving help whenever needed to those who call on Him in faith with childlike trust like that placed in earthly parents.

Children and young people may bring their burdens and perplexities to Jesus, trusting that He hears and gives what they need. They are to rely on the promise without demanding a particular answer or waiting for a special feeling, trusting Him to answer at the time and in the way He sees is for their good. Asking with humility and simplicity like a child asking a parent includes earnestly seeking the Holy Spirit, and such prayer is heard and answered with the heart's desire granted. Confidence in God should be as simple and complete as a child's trust in loving parents, for if human parents give good things to their children, the heavenly Father will not withhold any good thing from those who love Him and ask Him.