“Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knows what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.”
(Matthew 6:8)
God fully protects, supports, and sustains his children. And he always knows what we need even “before we ask him.” Further, nothing can touch us except what he permits (Job 1-2). So why, then, do God’s people suffer hardship in this life, especially when we pray otherwise… and when he has the power to prevent and provide relief through any means that he pleases? The answer is simple. It is because the Father knows what we really need and what is truly best for us at every juncture of our life, regardless of what we think or desire or even pray for.
Parents of young children are continually reminded how often a child asks for something that is not in his or her best interest. And as Christ explains to his followers, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him?” (Matt. 7:9-11).
Our Maker knows us through and through. He knows our strengths and weakness, what situations and challenges would promote our spiritual growth, and how we can best benefit from his gifts and blessings. Being assured of that, our prayerful response and behavioral responsibility should be to simply trust in our Father’s loving care. Whatever he gives may not be what we want or what we’ve asked him for, but it is most certainly what we need.
This truth can be difficult to swallow when facing disappointments and circumstances that seem in our eyes to be doing more harm than good. In these times especially, it behooves us to remember that God’s perspective is much higher and nobler than that of our own. So his best may come in the form of temporal hardship and pain, for he orchestrates circumstances and situations as seems good in his eyes, not ours.
Further, we should never think that the Lord bestows his providences on us in some random, uncaring manner. Rather, trust that God knows you, loves you, and deals with you just as he wills – for your good and his glory (Rom. 8:28). Our responsibility is to be heartily content with whatever he chooses to give, whether it seems much or little, good or bad. Strive to be able to say with Paul, “I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therein to be content,” (Phil. 4:11).
As Alexander Hume rightly said, “God rewards his own not according to their worthiness, but according to his greatness.”[1] And God’s rewards are neither worldly nor temporal, but eternal and everlasting, just like their Giver. Genesis 18:25 reminds us, “Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?” God always does what’s good in his eyes. And our Father knows best.
Contemplations:
- Glory to you, O blessed Master, who has complied with our weakness and given us direction in prayer that we might glory in your knowledge and necessity to us.
- Lord, you gave us the Lord’s Prayer, which was composed by you who hears prayer. We know it is excellent and most agreeable and acceptable to you who knows all my needs and expresses the manner in which I ought to pray.
- O Blessed Jesus, the only beloved of God, you above all best understand the language of love, and in that language you have taught us to pray and trust. So whenever we pray as you taught we have a humble confidence that our heavenly Father will hear us.
- Lord, you show us that prayer is the treasury where all blessings are kept, where our strength and weapons are stored, and where we access divine love. Give me grace therefore to call on you diligently and continually in prayer for you already know what I have need of before I ask.
- O the unspeakable misery of those who either totally neglect the duty of prayer, or else profane it by pretending to draw near to you with their lips when their hearts are far from you. How deservedly shall these hypocrites suffer eternal wrath who thought heaven not worth the asking?
Further references for Matthew 6:8:
Matthew 6:32; Psalm 38:9; Deut. 2:7; 1 John 3:20
[1] Alexander Hume, A Treatise of the Felicity, (Edinburgh: Robert Walde-grave, 1594), 11.
