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PROGRAM D-8182
If you made a list of all the things you’ve been given in the last year because you asked for them, how long would your list be?
A few years ago, I was stuck in an airport for two days because of weather-related cancellations, trying to get home, trying to locate my luggage, standing in long lines, and hoping to get on a flight soon. As I was standing in one long line with probably fifty other people, a woman who looked like she had some authority walked by. I nicely stopped her and asked her a question, to which she replied, “Come to my office.” I followed her to her office where, for about an hour, she made phone calls and arrangements. I walked out of there with a free hotel for the night and a seat on a flight the next day. I asked and got special treatment—not because I deserved it anymore than the others in that line, but because I asked.
Did you know that studies show that women are far more reluctant to ask things for themselves than are men? For example, men are more likely to ask for a raise than women are and, when they do ask, women ask for much less than men do. Women will freely ask for the benefit of others, but are reluctant to ask something for themselves.
Notice how freely children ask for things. They don’t hesitate to ask mom or dad for whatever it is they want at the moment, and they keep asking until we parents give in just because they kept asking.
Jesus told a parable about a widow who kept asking an uncaring and unkind judge for justice against her adversary. Finally, the judge decided to grant her request, not because he wanted to do the right thing, but because she kept bothering him. Jesus said, “And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly” (Luke 18:7).
In other words, we have a kind and loving God to ask—not a wicked judge—and yet often we give up asking him to meet our needs. Jesus taught us to keep on asking. Don’t quit! What have you given up asking for? Jesus taught us to be persistent in asking.
This is true in other areas of our lives with other people as well. We just give up asking for what we need and quit too easily. I don’t know about you, but this truly speaks to me and I want to learn the art and the power of asking.