We were hauling 5 gallon pales of concrete on our shoulders up ladders to the second floor where we would dump them into the wall forms. It was hot. It was dirty. It was exhausting, but we were happy to be there.
It was a tiny rural community in north central Mexico. A group of us had come down by bus from Winnipeg to do some outreach work. On this day we were partnering with a group from the states who were working here long term. We were helping them build a school, or church building – I can’t really remember now.
During one of our breaks a number of us were sitting around with the leader of this work. I was trying to learn more about his vision, what he wanted to accomplish and what some of their needs were. I asked him a simple question,
“What is your greatest need?”
“Money”, he replied.
It struck me as somewhat shallow. Really?
“Yup, give us more money and we can do some great things…”
Hmmmmm. It got me thinking about the question God asked Solomon in 1 Kings 3:5:
”What can I give you? Ask.” (The Message)
Wow, what would I say if God spoke to me and asked that? How would you answer?
I have pondered that question a number of times over the years. I know I am not in a good place when my answer revolves around “things”, or money. What God is really asking is what we want. What is deep in our hearts? It is easy to answer at a surface level, it’s tougher to get to what is really at the core of our desires.
It’s a good exercise to see where your heart is at. Are you aware of your desires? Are they solely carnal? Do they involve the deeper things of God? Are they simply legitimate daily needs?
So, how would I answer?
There are certainly some immediate desires/needs I have that I am confident the Lord cares about and will provide what I need. But I want to go deep to the big, hairy, audacious ask – that which is impossible without God.
The God of the universe, He who is without beginning and end, He who is infinitely powerful and able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine asks you,
“What can I give you? Ask.”
I have 4 thoughts:
I don’t know if I’d get 4 cracks at the question, but I think that’s how I would respond. Next month I may respond differently, but that’s what comes to mind now. I am sure if I heard some of what you would ask for I’d think, “What a great idea – I think I’ll ask for that too.”
So, how would you respond? There is no right or wrong answer.
What’s in your heart?
And you know what? We don’t have to wait for God to appear in a dream and ask us this question like He did with Solomon, because He has already asked us this question. Jesus tells us to ask, seek, knock – He is good and has put good desires in our hearts. He has put desires in our hearts He wants to draw out. Scripture tells us if we delight ourselves in the Lord He will give us the desires of our heart, because the deepest desire in our hearts is God.
He wants to help us discover the deep desires He has put in our hearts, because He is the deep desire in our hearts. We hunger and thirst for Him above all else.
He is able to do immeasurably beyond all we can ask or imagine, so go ahead, answer His question:
“What can I give you? Ask.”
Ephesians 1:17
“I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.
Ephesians 3:16-19
“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
Matthew 7:7, 8
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”