The Power of Asking

Joshua 15:16–19 (ESV) And Caleb said, “Whoever strikes Kiriath-sepher and captures it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter as wife.” 17 And Othniel the son of Kenaz, the brother of Caleb, captured it. And he gave him Achsah his daughter as wife. 18 When she came to him, she urged him to ask her father for a field. And she got off her donkey, and Caleb said to her, “What do you want?” 19 She said to him, “Give me a blessing. Since you have given me the land of the Negeb, give me also springs of water.” And he gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.

This passage presents an important and often neglected practice of God's people. James says, "We do not have because we do not ask." (James 4:2). The Lord's people called to pray constantly and in many ways: 

Ephesians 6:18 (ESV) praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints...

The Lord asks us to ASK Him. Do we do it? Because sometimes I think we fail to pray because we believe it won't work, God doesn't want to hear us complain or perhaps we've prayed about things before and it hasn't come to pass. While God will say, "no" at times, I bet if we did our homework and recounted the past blessings of our lives, we'd find many more "yes" answers to prayer than we remember.

We must realize that the Lord who CAN answer our prayers has told us to PRAY. This should bring boldness, confidence, and excitement to our prayer experience. 

Look at this passage in Joshua 15. Caleb offers his daughter to whoever has the boldness to take one of the strongholds of the land. This is the area of the Anakim, the giant-dwellers. His nephew Othniel takes the land and ends up with the prize of marrying his cousin (I know we don't do this today but let's move on quickly). 

After winning the price wife, she asks her new man to ask her father for a field. Evidently, he does and gets the plot of land from the new Father-in-law. However, the daughter, Achsah is not finished with asking dad for things. She comes to him and gets off her donkey which may symbolize some kind of ancient boldness because Caleb has to ask now what she wants. And she says something important. 

“Give me a blessing. Since you have given me the land of the Negeb, give me also springs of water.”

I love the phrasing of this prayer. First, she acknowledges that she needs Caleb's power to bless her life and situation. "Give me a blessing." That's what we must do with God. We don't pray as if God owes it to us. We must pray declaring what we need will be a blessing from God. The word, "barak" can mean to "endue with power" or it can mean "gift." What we have to understand is that everything we have is a gift from God for our empowerment. Are we asking for things with that in mind?

Secondly, look at the preface to the request: "Since you have given me the land of the Negeb". This is a brilliant play on Achsah's part. She puts the onus on Caleb. Since he has done the good thing of giving her the land of Negeb, she now needs something to help make that land useful and profitable. The Negeb is a dry parched wilderness south of Judah. It is a beautiful site from the southern part of Jerusalem but Achsah knows that land is not beneficial without a water source. So she says, "Since I have this from you, don't let me languish in an unproductive life with it. Give me a water source!" What a way to ask God. 

I wonder if you need to tell God thanks for what you have but also ask God for the empowerment to maximize what He's given you. I think sometimes we play the humility card and dare not ask because we don't want to upset God. But again, He tells us to ask! So ask with boldness acknowledging that He can give you what you need for what you have to become successful. 

Want some examples?

God, since you've given me a spouse, give me also patience and perseverance.

God, since you've given me these children, give me also a proper home to raise them.

God, since you've given me this job, give me wisdom above my current station to succeed in it.

If God brought you to a blessing, ask Him to enable you to make the most of it. This brings Him honor and shows the world how good He can be.