Word for Wednesday
And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. John 14:13
The three brothers made their way up the long lane to the large stone house. Dressed in rough and worn clothing, they looked out of place in the well-to-do surroundings. Nervously, they climbed the ornate front steps, and the oldest brother pushed the doorbell. Shortly, a large man with a stern expression opened the door and asked their business. Hesitatingly at first, the oldest brother explained that they were friends of the rich man’s son, had been in the same school with him. He continued to explain that the son had promised them that if they needed wood for their furnace, his father would let them cut it from his forest land. But the son had been killed in a military training accident a couple of months ago. Now, his friends needed wood for their furnace, and wanted to know if the father would honour the son’s promise. After a brief pause, the father nodded and said, ‘If my boy said you could have wood, you can have all the wood you need.’ He was being faithful to the pattern set for us by the Lord Jesus.
We don’t have any right of our own to ask for anything from God. We forfeited any such right in Adam’s disobedience in Eden, and in our own personal disobedience. Although we have no right of our own to make requests of God, we do have the name of the Son to invoke as our right to ask. That is why all of our petitions must be in His name, pleading His merit and His right. A disobedient son might question the Father’s willingness to grant his requests, but the Son of God was never disobedient nor a disappointment to His Father. It is His Father’s great delight to grant His Son’s request. And His Son’s request is that we will receive all that is for our very best.
Our text makes it sound like our requests can be unlimited and unconditional. But the requests that we make of God must be submitted in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. In His Name, can we possibly submit requests for that which would be consumed on our lusts? In His Name, can we possibly ask for that which would be selfish, or vengeful, or inappropriate to our status as children of God? Our text speaks of God granting that in which He will be glorified in His Son.
God’s greatest desire is to honour His Son. If that is our desire as well, we will have worthy petitions when we ask of God. – Jim MacIntosh