You Won't Know Until You Ask

549- Today's Prime Time Devo comes from: 2Sa 14:18-22, “Then the king answered and said to the woman, "Please do not hide from me anything that I ask you." And the woman said, "Please, let my lord the king speak." 19 So the king said, "Is the hand of Joab with you in all this?" And the woman answered and said, "As you live, my lord the king, no one can turn to the right hand or to the left from anything that my lord the king has spoken. For your servant Joab commanded me, and he put all these words in the mouth of your maidservant. 20 "To bring about this change of affairs your servant Joab has done this thing; but my lord is wise, according to the wisdom of the angel of God, to know everything that is in the earth." 21 And the king said to Joab, "All right, I have granted this thing. Go therefore, bring back the young man Absalom." 22 Then Joab fell to the ground on his face and bowed himself, and thanked the king. And Joab said, "Today your servant knows that I have found favor in your sight, my lord, O king, in that the king has fulfilled the request of his servant." (2 Sam 14:18-22) Here we have a picture of prayer. You don't have to pray alone, you can ask others to pray for you! In essence, this is what Joab has done through the widow. Picture this whole scene as the throne room of God, with David representing Jesus. If I would ask you to “pray for me,” I would be like Joab here and you would be the widow. When you pray for me, you bring me into the throne room with you! For whatever reason Joab was reluctant to bring his case to the king alone. Or maybe God was using this whole scenario to show us some biblical truths about prayer. The first truth we can learn from this is pray! Ask God! You never know, He may grant your petition! Jas 4:2b says, “you do not have because you do not ask.” Be persistent! Jesus speaking in Mt 7:7 encourages us to, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” And in Mt 18:19 "Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven.” This last one is especially pertinent in this case because in context it deals with the restoration of a brother, and this is what the widow and Joab desired in the case of Absalom. So pray my brothers! Pray my sisters! You won't know until you ask!