7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: 8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. 9 Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? 10 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? (Matthew 7:7-11 KJV)
William Burkitt’s Commentary
Observe here, a precept and a promise; the precept, or duty commanded, is importunity and constancy in prayer, we must ask, seek, and knock; the promise, or mercy indured,, is audience and acceptance with God.
Note, 1. That man, is a poor, indigent, and necessitous creature, full of wants, but unable to supply them.
2. That God is an all-sufficient good, able to supply the wants and to relieve the necessities of his creatures, if they call upon him, and cry unto him.
3. Yet if we do not presently receive what we ask, we must still continue to seek and knock; though prayer be not always answered in our time, yet it shall never fail of an answer in God’s time.
4. That natural propensity which we find in our breasts to hear the desires and to supply the wants of our own children, ought to raise in us a confident expectation, that Almighty God will hear our prayers, and supply our wants, when we call upon him: if a father will give when a child asks, much more will God. If ye being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father, &c. God loves to be giving and to give good gifts is his delight.
But prayer is the key that opens both his heart and hand: yet not every person nor every prayer shall find acceptance with God: the person praying must be a doer of God’s will, and the manner of our prayer must be in faith, and with fervency, and unfeigned perseverance.