Matthew 7:7

Matthew 7:7. The thoughts of judgment and unworthiness (Matthew 7:1-6), might discourage; encouragement is given by showing God's willingness to give. The objection to connecting this verse with chap. Matthew 5:34, is that it must then refer to temporal things. At the same time it shows that the trust there spoken of is a prayerful trust

Ask, and it shall be given to you etc. ‘Ask,' ‘seek,' ‘knock,' refer to prayer, forming a climax. The first implies simple petition, the second earnest desire, the third perseverance. ‘To ask, indicates the want of an object, which can only be obtained by free gift; to seek, that it has been lost; to knocks that it has been shut up hence this prayer, which is both the work of life and the evidence of life.' Others apply ‘ask' to prayer, ‘seek' to our endeavors, ‘knock' to our investigation of the Scripture; the former explanation is simpler.