You have Not because You ask Not

How many of God's daughters don't ask their heavenly Father for anything because of their experience with their earthly fathers' lack of care and interest? Don't answer that.  Many times, we, daughters of the King, stop short of what we need. However, we need to push forward and be bold. 

The Old Testament contains an interesting tale about six behold and asked for what they needed. These girls' father had died and left no male heirs. They asked for their inheritance, and God responded gave them, not only what they asked for, but changed how women were treated in Israel forever: “Our father died in the desert.  Why should our father’s name disappear from his clan because he had no son? Give us property among our father’s relatives.” So Moses brought their case before the Lord and the Lord said to him, “What Zelophehad’s daughters are saying is right. You must certainly give them property as an inheritance among their father’s relatives and turn their father’s inheritance over to them.

God moves the boundaries to bless all Israelite women: “Say to the Israelites, ‘If a man dies and leaves no son, turn his inheritance over to his daughter. If he has no daughter, give his inheritance to his brothers. If he has no brothers, give his inheritance to his father’s brothers. If his father had no brothers, give his inheritance to the nearest relative in his clan, that he may possess it. This is to be a legal requirement for the Israelites, as the Lord commanded Moses.’”

God wants us to ask Him for our true  hearts' desires. He desires for us to trust Him to answer those desires. God does not always  answer our prayers when and how we would like, but He does listen; He does care, and He will answer.

Listen, I am encouraging myself in God's loving nature. I have prayed for 26 years for someone with whom to work in the ministry. I believe God knows the right time, the right person, and when I am ready to embark on this journey with that person. Keep knocking, asking, and believing.

Sometimes, God waits so that He can maximize His glory, so that He can prove the naysayers and the misogynists wrong. He did so with Zelophedad's daughters. Did Zelophedad wonder why he wasn't 'blessed' with sons? (You have got to give him credit for trying six times). God wanted to expand His glory, so that His renown as God of equity and equality would be seen through holy chutzpah of six women.

Just like Jesus would later do with Mary, Martha, and the Samaritan woman, God wrote women into the story in a culture and a time that doing so was unheard of or even imagined.

Here's to chutzpah,
mj