Just Ask

Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.  John 14:13-14
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Just Ask

I looked over his shoulder at his paper. The incomplete outline revealed that he was about six steps behind the rest of the class.

“You need to hurry and catch up,” I said.

“I’m lost.” He responded.

“When did you get lost?” I countered.

“At the beginning.”

Stunned, my simple response was, “Then, why didn’t you just ask me for help?”

Frustrations abound in the classroom. A simple request at the beginning of our assignment would have prevented my student from being lost throughout the majority of it. If he had asked, I would have helped him. I could have gotten him straightened out at the beginning, instead of having to backtrack several steps, restate directions the group had already covered, in order to get him on track and in the right place. He wouldn’t have been lost. All he had to do was ask.

As I read today’s passage, I thought sometimes God must gently shake his head back and forth whispering to himself, “Just ask.”

How many times have I stumbled through my day, week, month or year lost, frozen in place by my thoughts and emotions like a diver trapped in the sea by a school of circling sharks?

Worried. Stressed. Frustrated. Unsure. Overwhelmed. Undecided. Stuck. Hurt. Lost.

All the while God is whispering, “Just Ask.”

John 14:12-14 tells us that God is in the business of answering our prayers. He wants us to ask. He wants us to take care of our confusion in life at the beginning of things, not at the end. He doesn’t want us to be lost. He wants us to be on task doing what glorifies Him because when we are lost, we stop being productive. We start desperately looking around trying to find anything that will help us get back on track. Our confusion consumes us, eventually paralyzing us rendering us powerless for His purposes.

My student let his early confusion keep him from completing a task. He looked around at others. He talked. He couldn’t figure it out on his own, so he sat. Doing nothing. But, in reality, all he had to do was ask me for help and his problem would have been solved.  

How about you? Are you confused about something? Concerned? Worried? Unsure? Overwhelmed?

Have you asked?

God doesn’t want our “why?” or “what next?” to grow into an “I can’t” or “I won’t.”

But, He can’t help us if we don’t ask.
 
 
 
 

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