Daily devotion – Have you asked?
Everyone Who Asks Receives…
Jesus tells the story of a tax collector whose heart was so broken that he dared not lift his eyes toward Heaven—yet God looked down on him with mercy.
Luke 18:13–14 records:
“And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
As I continue reading through 2 Chronicles, we come across one of the most evil kings ever to sit on Judah’s throne—Manasseh. He was a cruel persecutor of God’s people. Nothing in his life could commend him before the Lord.
And yet, when he finally cried to God from the dungeon of his own making, the Lord heard him and showed mercy (2 Chronicles 33:1–13).
We also remember another man—this time a prophet—Jonah. By his own rebellion he ended up in the belly of a great fish. Irritable, reluctant, disobedient—hardly a model servant.
But from the depths of the sea, Jonah cried to the Lord, and God heard him (Jonah 1:17–2:2).
The words of Jesus ring with divine certainty:
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks receives…”
—Luke 11:9–10
Everyone!
At the great Day of Judgment there will not be a single soul who can honestly say, “I knocked at mercy’s door, but God refused to open it.”
No—the Scriptures declare with full authority:
“Everyone who asks receives.”
So today—this week—have you asked?
Have you sought the Lord?
Have you cried out to Him from the “dungeon” you may have landed in through your own failures?
Far too many people will walk into church this Sunday without having received anything from God—not because He is unwilling, but because they have not asked.
Don’t be counted among that forlorn number.
Don’t remain floundering when the door of mercy stands ready to open.
Ask—and you will receive.