Here is a wonderful encouragement and a wonderful promise.
As our Lord proceeded with the Sermon on that Mount, and as He looked
into the anxious, eager faces of the multitude around Him, He revealed
to them some of the deepest needs of our hearts.
His words are very simple, and the youngest child can understand a
little about them.
"Ask," He says.
If a father or a mother says, "Ask me when you next see me," the child
is quite sure he will get his request!
Years ago, when I was quite a little girl, a favourite aunt tried to
teach us all this lesson. When the grandchildren went to stay at that
dear country house, they were told that on a Saturday they could ask
their aunt for a "Saturday penny." She wanted to impress upon our minds
that God loved us to ask for what He had promised! So as surely as we
asked, however many there were of us, she gave what she had promised.
And, though that is seventy years ago, you see I have not forgotten it!
Well! Our Lord says "Ask." That shows that He knows we have some want
in our hearts that we hardly are conscious of.
What is the need that hides down below everything else? It is
forgiveness—to be assured that our sins are washed away.
People, however, try a number of remedies first.