Semikkah7

12/02/2024 – Day 162 – Luke – Chapters 11 – 11 / “Keep Asking, Searching, Knocking” Luke 11:05 – 11:13

For our prior cycle posts: 08/08/2022 – 12:10 – What is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, the unforgivable sin? ; and 10/26/2020 – re: “fear of the LORD”.

Now let’s get started for today:

“For everyone who asks receives , and the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” Luke 11:10

Let’s look at the commentary in “The Apologetics Study Bible.”:

“11:10 Jesus said that ‘everyone’ who asks receives, yet experience do0es not seem to bear this out. Why? Jesus was not giving a magic formula for self-gratification. Jesus used absolute terms to emphasize His point: One is to pray while trusting in God’s goodness and willingness to answer. This is particularly true when the object of prayer is spiritual (v. 13). Jesus had just taught the disciples to pray for God’s will to be done. One should assume that the caveats of the prayer earlier in the chapter inform the interpretation of a statement like this just a few verses later. For more on the point of Jesus’ hyperbolic language, see note on Mark 11: 22-24.”

So, let’s do that, we’ll go to Mark 11: 22-24:

“Therefore, I tell you, all the things you pray and ask for — believe that you have received them, and you will have them.” (Mark 11: 22-24)

Now, let’s go to our commentary once again on this verse that is very similar to the Luke verse:

“11: 22-24 It is characteristic Semitic style to make a point in exaggerated and unqualified terms (e.g. – 9:45-48; 13:2; 1 John 3-9). The hyperbolic casting of a mountain into the sea by faith signals the exaggeration in these statements about prayer. The point of the saying is the absolute necessity of trust in God’s unlimited power, not a blank check for answered prayers. The disciples (and readers of this Gospel were expected to supply the proper qualifications. Some of these are stated explicitly or illustrated elsewhere in the NT (Matthew 6:10; 26:42; James 4:3; 1 John 5:14) *see Comment below

*I highly recommend studying these four verses; I trust this will come together for you. This is an excellent example of: “letting Scripture testify to Scripture.”

Soli Deo Gloria!