WATCHWORD:
Knock, and it will be opened to you. Luke 11:9
The hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones. 2 Then He caused me to pass by them all around, and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and indeed they were very dry. 3 And He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” So I answered, “O Lord God, You know.” Ezekiel 37:1-3
Meditation:
Knock!
What’s next? The Lord God tells us, “You know what’s next, Mortals!”
I think it’s amazing, our Lord God has told us time after time, not to worry, not to fear, I will be there for you. You only have to seek and you will find. You only have to knock and it will be open to you. Yet we shake in fear for the future. We feel a sense of helplessness as we consider the evil around us.
In a recent Oswald Chambers devotional he speaks about how we seem to be building our faith on experience rather than trusting the dwelling within us, the Holy Spirit, the very personification of Almighty God. Yet we quiver in fear, we hide, we close our eyes and clog our ears, we keep silent for fear that we may be required to explain when we speak out the truth that is there in our hearts.
Have you ever knocked? I mean really called upon the Lord when you did not know what to do, and did not know what to say, and it was frightening. Did you knock until your knuckles were bleeding, spiritually? Or did you fail to knock and later regretted that, later felt dirty because you did not ask of the Lord, and did not speak out. You let evil go by because you didn’t want to draw attention to yourself and now you have those second thoughts, those shameful second thoughts. What is wrong with us?
Now you have something else going on. Maybe you have lamented, have expressed your sorrow before God for your failure to respond, for the poor condition of your inner life? Maybe you are ashamed of what you are seeing in this human being standing there before you in the mirror. The Lord tells us to humble ourselves, and to knock, to seek, and to ask.
Maybe we need to take to heart a children’s praise song we may have learned during Vacation Bible School years ago:
Our God knows exactly what I need
So I remember this
When you ask, He cares
When you seek, He’s there
And when you knock knock knock knock
God opens up the door
When you ask, He cares
When you seek, He’s there
And when you knock knock knock knock
God opens up the door
Take heart, it is a humbling experience to knock at God’s door, for we must knock with the crucified thief, before we know that “it will be opened to us.” What’s next? The Lord God tells us, “You know what’s next, Mortals, knock, knock, knock!” Amen.
Closing Prayer:
Heavenly father, I never thought of myself in the same breath as the thief that hung on the cross next to my Jesus. He was a thief who knew he was guilty, who knew he deserved the worst, but he knocked on heavens door anyway. And he asked the Lord with his heart and even though he didn’t know that he sought the lord, God’s door opened to him. Help me Lord to knock on your door as the thief did, to seek You knowing I would find You, and to ask knowing it would be given to me. Thank you Heavenly Father. I offer these prayers in the name of Jesus, my Lord and my Savior. Amen.
