Luke 11:5-9 -- On Asking, Seeking, and Knocking

"And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves;
For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him?
And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.
I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.
And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you."
Luke 11:5-9


I think that the lesson here is interesting--God isn't necessarily telling us that we should bother our friends at midnight, but he seems to definitely be telling us that we should ask for what we need. Several chapters after this we read the story of the unjust judge, who avenges a widow, not because he cares about justice, but because she just kept asking him.  The lessons in both stories seem to be that we should ask for what we need, and keep asking until we get it.

That's an interesting lesson in our society where we're often taught that part of being polite and kind is to not ask for things, not ask questions, and not to put anyone out by asking for more.  Yet God tells us to ask, seek, and knock.  He's telling us to go out there and be bold, reaching for what we need and that if we persist in doing so, he will help us get what we seek.

Of course, in the context of the gospel God means righteous goals and desires.  He isn't encouraging us to ask for things that are bad for us, although unfortunately we also often get bad things that we seek, and our lives are worse for that kind of seeking.  What God is asking us is to forge our own lives, to be "anxiously engaged" (D&C 58:27) in building our lives and our selves into something that we love and we want to be, sharing the goodness we gain with all around us.

I really love that God doesn't want us to just avoid the world, but to remember that it is our classroom... to be in it and learn from it, but not be of it... to also remember that our true home is above.  Today, let's talk with and ask him for what we truly want... and then let's work for it.  Let's dedicate our lives to asking, seeking, and knocking, moving forward and seeking more and more good in our lives, and knowing God is with us, helping us to learn and develop opinions and find hobbies and work on our talents.  He wants us to be our best selves, gloriously individual and always loved.