How Do You Knock?

By awesome deeds you answer us in righteousness, O God of our salvation. Psalm 65:5 (NASB)

Jesus said, “Everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.” Matthew 7:8

REFLECTION:
I knock five times. Everyone has a different number, or a different pattern. But when I come to a door I need to enter, I knock five times in the "shave and a haircut" rhythm. (If you don't know what I am talking about, try tapping out the syllables of "shave and a haircut" and you'll recognize the familiar knocking pattern...)

So that's how I knock on a door. How do you do it?

That's the question that stuck in my mind as I read this morning's passages. Jesus promises that if we knock, the door will be opened. But how do we knock? How do we reach out to God?

For some of us, "knocking" means praying...in our own way. Some of us utter a few words outloud, some of us "think" our prayers while driving to work. Some of us get on our knees by the side of the bed. Some of us bow our heads. Some of us look to the sky. But prayer can be one form of seeking God...one form of "knocking."

There are many other ways to reach out to God. Taking time on a Sunday morning to worship is a form of reaching out. Asking a close friend for advice and trusting that God has placed that person in your life for a reason is another form of reaching out.

But here's the point...NOT reaching out somehow would be like standing at a door you need to enter and never knocking...

So I don't know what you, dear reader, need today...do you need strength? Be bold enough to ask for it. Do you need to forgive someone? Pray that God gives you the power to do that when your power fades. Do you need to be able to trust God again? Make time for attending a Sunday service and intentionally place yourself in a room of other people who are, against all odds, choosing to trust in the source of Love that binds us all together.

But whatever you do...knock somehow today. Reach out somehow...in prayer, in worship, in a moment of silence you've been needing, in a call to a friend. Just knock. The promise is, whatever your pattern of knocking, the door will be opened.

PRAYER:
God give us the courage and the strength to reach out to you. Help us to trust that no matter how we reach out, we will find you reaching in to us. Thank you for the blessed assurance of your love. Amen.