Why we don't get some things from God - James 4:2

"You do not have because you do not ask."

As a father of two boys, I understand this verse well from a dad's perspective. When my sons were growing up there were things that they asked for but I told them "no". These were things I knew were not good for them. Other things were good, but I didn't always give those good things to them until they asked. Why? I wanted, in some cases, to see whether or not they really wanted them, and in other cases just because I wanted them to ask me. I wanted them to come to me and ask so that I could show them that I love them, and that they can come to me for good things, and dad will deliver.

Now I am not saying that I am like God! Or worse, that God takes His cues from me! But I am simply saying what Jesus says in Matthew 7:11.

"If you then being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him."

Human fathers give good things to their children, but sometimes not until they ask. Our heavenly Father does the same thing only much better. He gives us good gifts all the time. But there are some gifts that He waits to give until we ask. Why? Often it is because He simply wants us to come to Him. That is a good enough reason. But other times it is to help us to realize what is really important to us. He already knows, but He wants us to know too.

Now when God says "no", James tells us that it is because we are asking with "wrong motives" (4:3). We are asking for something to spend on our "pleasures". This either means it is something we desire that we don't need and isn't good for us, or it is something that could be good for us but our heavenly Father knows we are going to use it in a way that is sinful and bad for us. The answer in both of these cases will always be "no".

What I want to focus on though is not that God sometimes says "no", but that He wants to say "yes" to some of the things we desire. But He is not going to until we ask.

How many blessings and how many good gifts are we missing simply because we lack the faith to ask or we are too busy to ask? Clearly there must be some because God says "You do not have because you do not ask". Let's start asking!