Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you.
Matthew 7:7 (CSB)
Jesus has been laying out a hard life to live. Don’t judge people harshly. Deal with your own sin first. Handle holy things with care. If you have been reading along, you might be thinking, I can’t do all that.
That’s the point. And Jesus’ answer is simple: ask.
The three commands are ask, seek, knock. In the original language, all three are the kind that mean keep going. Keep asking. Keep seeking. Keep knocking. This isn’t one quick prayer you say and forget. It’s bringing something to God, and coming back to Him about it.
And who does the answering? The verse says it will be given, and the door will be opened, but it doesn’t name who gives or opens. That’s on purpose. It’s God. God gives. God opens the door.
So when the Christian life feels like more than we can do, that feeling is not a reason to quit. It is a reason to pray. The thing we can’t manage on our own is exactly what we bring to God, again and again. The Bible says if we don’t have the wisdom we need, we should ask God for it, and He gives it (James 1:5).
And we can come to God freely because of Jesus. God already gave us the most costly gift there is, His own Son (Romans 8:32). A Father who gave us that will not turn us away when we come and ask. We keep knocking because Jesus already opened the door.