Stone Ground

 Matthew 7:7-11, "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will fine; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!"


It's hard for me to trust God and to praise Him for His faithfulness when I feel let down by Him. I look at His promises, promises like Jeremiah 29:11, " For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Promises like the passage from Matthew 7, and I expect that what I receive from Him will be good. Good might be an understatement, what I really expect is incredible things from Him. Against that backdrop of expectation, it's difficult for me to reconcile the reality I live in at times. Things I have asked of God for years; things He has promised for almost as long and yet when I receive them, it seems as though I've gotten factory seconds or something salvaged from the 'some parts missing' pile.

I was having a fairly frank conversation with the Almighty this morning during corporate worship. While others were saying "how can we not praise God", "Our praises are the Holy Spirit blowing through our midst", and we're singing of God's never ending goodness among other things, I was saying, You've short changed me. You haven't come through on your promises. What You have done to me, is equivalent to promising someone a car and then giving them one with no wheels and no motor. While You met the letter of Your commitment, You've failed miserably in meeting the expectations You fostered.

That's when I thought of the Matthew 7 passage. I'm not sure it's the passage I would have sent myself to, were I the Holy Spirit, but then I'm not and He knows much better than I. I read it, read it again and thought; it makes my point precisely! I asked for bread, God had an obligation to give me bread. What am I doing with this stone in my hand?

And then He spoke. "If it looks like a stone, if it looks like a snake - I'm obviously not done with it yet! I gave you My word! If you ask for bread, I'll not give you a stone, if you ask for fish, I'll not give you a snake. If you think I gave you a stone, you best keep looking at it because I'm not finished with it yet. I won't give you a stone! I won't give you a snake! That's My promise to you, and I keep My promises!"

Not only do I tend to expect God to respond according to my time line, but I realized this morning, I've also been guilty of expecting that when He answers it will be with a completed package. No works in progress. I realized this morning, that rather than measure God's words by what I see, I need to measure what I see by God's words. His words are sure! If He has promised me bread and what I've received does not look like bread there are only a couple of possibilities worth considering. One might be that it's bread the like of which I've never seen, the other would be that He is not finished with it yet and in time it will be bread. A possibility not worth considering is that His word is not sure, that He has given a promise which He will fail to fulfill.

If we ask for bread, He will surely give us a loaf. If I'm holding a stone it may be He wants me to make flour.