Courage to Ask

Because the truly courageous knock on doors that others will not.

Asking doesn’t necessarily seem courageous. When it comes to meager requests in our daily lives, it’s true—it doesn’t require much courage. I doubt my eight-year-old needs

boot-shaking courage as she incessantly asks me for snacks in the pantry. Nor does my fifteen-year-old need extreme courage when blubberingly begging me to stay up for ten more minutes in order to finish reading her page-turning novel.

Those kinds of asks are more repetitively mundane. They happen daily, hourly, in my world.

When it comes to the God-sized miracles needed in the midst of our journey—I find it takes a hefty dose of hopeful courage to ask.

To ask God for that dream burning brightly in the secret closet crevices of your heart. To ask God to meet that insurmountable mountain of a need. To ask others to lavishly invest their resources into the destiny that lies before you. It takes courage to ask.

I’d like to share with you the story of an unnamed woman in 2 Kings 4 who demonstrates the courage to ask. Her life speaks volumes to me. When I read her story, I see the miracles that God did on her behalf, and a woman who had enough courage to boldly partner with God.

"One day the widow of a member of the group of prophets came to Elisha and cried out, ‘My husband who served you is dead, and you know how he feared the Lord. But now a creditor has come, threatening to take my two sons as slaves.’ ‘What can I do to help you?’ Elisha asked. ‘Tell me, what do you have in the house?’ ‘Nothing at all, except a flask of olive oil,’ she replied. And Elisha said, ‘Borrow as many empty jars as you can from your friends and neighbors. Then go into your house with your sons and shut the door behind you. Pour olive oil from your flask into the jars, setting each one aside when it is filled.’ So she did as she was told. Her sons kept bringing jars to her, and she filled one after another. Soon every container was full to the brim! ‘Bring me another jar,’ she said to one of her sons. ‘There aren’t any more!’ he told her. And then the olive oil stopped flowing. When she told the man of God what had happened, he said to her, ‘Now sell the olive oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on what is left over.'"

Blazing from the depths of her soul, this woman portrays the courage to ask. Here we have a woman who was in a destitute situation, yet she believed a miracle could take place for her! She approached the prophet and asked for his assistance. She was fully persuaded that nothing is too difficult for God.

I believe this woman had a deep-seated conviction that God was working on her behalf. She must have known that God had exactly what she needed lined up behind the scenes. Her belief that nothing was too difficult for Him fueled her ask of Him and her ask of others.

The same is true for us. Maybe you don’t see the need for courage to ask because you’ve never asked God for anything beyond what you could accomplish with your own strength. The days of that type of asking are over. God has miracles in store for you, just like He did for this woman. Miracles that only He can do.

Push all your chips to the center of the table. You serve a big God who can do far more than you could ever do on your own.

It’s time to start believing. It’s time to start asking.

I find it interesting that God could have provided for this woman by making a million dollars appear on her doorstep, or a thousand cattle appear in her yard, but He didn’t do that. Instead, He invited her into the process of the miraculous.

When I find the courage to ask God, He turns right around and asks if I will do something for

Him! How crazy is that? He wants me to be a part of the miraculous journey. He does the miraculous act by His own power, but He allows me to put my hand to the process.

This is what takes courage on our part. If you don’t believe that your situation can change, then you will retreat from asking.

If the answer to your ask requires action on your part that you are unwilling to give, you could miss your miracle.

Decide ahead of time that you will be willing to steward the weight of your ask and take a leap of faith into the unknown. Believe and obey. Believe and ask. Nothing is too difficult for God. Our asking is never just for us; the things we ask of God are for others as well. This woman knew that her son's lives hung in the balance of her asking.

"Your miracle affects the lives of those around you—use that knowledge to fuel your courage."

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