SermonStudio

Scripture Reference
Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.
-- Matthew 7:7

Materials Needed
Wristwatch
Card stock printed with scripture reference and verse

Telling The Story
Good morning! (Hold up card stock printed with scripture reference and verse.) This morning, I read a verse in the Bible that says, "Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you." And I was so excited! If I ask for something, I'll receive it ... so do you know what I did? I prayed and asked God to send someone at (insert time here ... 1 or 2 minutes from the current actual time) to walk through that door and give me one million dollars. (Insert time.) That should be right about now. (Look at watch. Point to door. Stand and wait.) Right about now. (Look at watch. Point to door. Stand and wait.) Maybe my watch is a little fast. Let's wait another minute. (Point to door. Stand and wait. Look confused. Turn to children.)

I don't understand it. The Bible said, "Ask, and ye shall receive ..." I asked, but I didn't get a million dollars. I wasn't asking for anything bad. Think of all the good things that would happen if I had a million dollars.

I would give some of it to the church. The church would use the money to help missionaries who are telling people about God, and we know that God wants us to help people who are telling other people about him.

I'd give some of the money to (insert the name of a medical foundation). They're researching a cure for (medical foundation's research focus). God wants us to help people who are sick, and if I donated money to (medical foundation), then I'd be helping the foundation help people who are sick!

I could start a scholarship with some of that money! Scholarships help people go to college, which helps them get good jobs, and with good jobs, they can buy houses and food and warm clothes. God wants us to help people who need homes and food and clothes. If I started a scholarship with some of that money, wouldn't I be helping those people?

So I don't understand it! I had good plans for that money ... plans that would help other people in ways that I know God wants us to help other people. So why didn't I get a million dollars? Well, guess what? I don't know.

God does answer our prayers, and sometimes he says, "Yes" to what we ask, but sometimes when we ask for something, God says, "No." Sometimes we do know why. If you ask for something that you know God doesn't want you to have, he's going to say, "No." Sometimes we don't know right away. We have to wait until later to learn why God answered a prayer with, "No."

But sometimes we don't learn why, at least not on Earth. There will be times in your life when you'll pray for something, and God will say, "No," and you'll have to wait until you go to heaven to learn exactly why.

You see, we human beings think like human beings. God thinks like God. Can you imagine something happening tomorrow? Can you think about something that will happen next year? How about ten years from now? Ten thousand years? It's hard for us to really and truly understand some things because we don't live forever and because we're not nearly as smart as God is!

When I asked God for a million dollars, I was thinking about the good things that I could do with it, but I couldn't know about everything in the whole universe, and I couldn't think about "forever" because I'm a human being. On the other hand, God knows what his plans are. He knows about everything in the entire universe, and he knows everything about "forever." God has pieces of information that I don't have. And maybe the reason God said, "No," is because of something I can't understand yet. The ideas I had for one million dollars might seem like good ideas to me, but God knows what I don't. My ideas didn't fit in God's plans. Someday, God will tell me why he said, "No." He might tell me tomorrow. He might wait to tell me when I go to heaven. Either way, I have to trust that God is in control of the universe. He didn't say, "No," because he doesn't love me. God said, "No," because he does.

Prayer
Dear Lord,

Thank you for this beautiful day and for loving us so much. Thank you for listening to all of our prayers and for always answering. Please help us to remember that you always answer our prayers, that you answer them based on your plans, and that you answer them the way you do because you love us, even when you say, "No." Please also help us to trust you and the answers you give.

In Jesus' name. Amen.