March 12: “Ask, Seek, Knock, Enter”
♫ Music:
Day 24 - Friday, March 12
Title: “ASK, SEEK, KNOCK, ENTER”
Scripture: Matthew 7:7-14
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him! In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets. Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
Poetry:
The Gift
by Li-Young Lee
To pull the metal splinter from my palm
my father recited a story in a low voice.
I watched his lovely face and not the blade.
Before the story ended, he’d removed
the iron sliver I thought I’d die from.
I can’t remember the tale,
but hear his voice still, a well
of dark water, a prayer.
And I recall his hands,
two measures of tenderness
he laid against my face,
the flames of discipline
he raised above my head.
Had you entered that afternoon
you would have thought you saw a man
planting something in a boy’s palm,
a silver tear, a tiny flame.
Had you followed that boy
you would have arrived here,
where I bend over my wife’s right hand.
Look how I shave her thumbnail down
so carefully she feels no pain.
Watch as I lift the splinter out.
I was seven when my father
took my hand like this,
and I did not hold that shard
between my fingers and think,
Metal that will bury me,
christen it Little Assassin,
Ore Going Deep for My Heart.
And I did not lift up my wound and cry,
Death visited here!
I did what a child does
when he’s given something to keep.
I kissed my father.
ASK, SEEK, KNOCK, ENTER
In Isamu Noguchi’s Narrow Gate, a narrow incision opens from the stone. Its opening is like the petal of a lily, beautiful in its fixed unfurling. It intimates a generous and unexpected vastness within.
What if—it seems to ask—narrowness itself is openness?
When Christ tells his hearers to “ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you,” he closely follows this with two more commands: “In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you,” and, “Enter through the narrow gate . . . For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life . . .”
These commands are offered in a tight sequence that implies connectedness. The “narrow gate” instruction seems almost to be a summary of the prior two. We are thus challenged to reimagine Christ’s command to “ask / seek / knock” in light of his command to “enter by the narrow gate.”
I propose this reimagining: What if the asking and receiving, seeking and finding, knocking and opening are themselves a “narrow gate?”
Any time I offer petitions to God, I must admit to the limiting constancy of my smallness, which drives me to prayer. It is then, in the moment of my prayer, that I exist in intimate communion with God. Thus, if my need is what occasions my asking, seeking, and knocking, I must reimagine my relationship with need as one of grace.
Li-Young Lee’s “The Gift” illuminates this truth. In it, the speaker recalls a childhood memory of a painful splinter.
To pull the metal splinter from my palm
my father recited a story in a low voice.
I watched his lovely face and not the blade.
[. . .]
I can’t remember the tale,
but hear his voice still, a well
of dark water, a prayer.
And I recall his hands,
two measures of tenderness . . .
We are invited to contemplate the father’s “lovely face,” his low, prayerful voice, his tender hands brought near. Any pain the boy felt is nearly forgotten. The splinter is only important because it occasioned an opportunity for nearness between the son and his father.
When the father is presented with his son’s wound, he responds the only way a loving father can: with a gift.
Had you entered that afternoon
you would have thought you saw a man
planting something in a boy’s palm,
a silver tear, a tiny flame.
One is reminded of Christ’s words—“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father . . . give what is good to those who ask Him!”
The Father can only respond to our asking with abundance. This is because He is always abundance, always gift.
In Lent, as our fasting reduces distraction and we are compelled to attend what we typically avoid, our Father redeems our neediness into opportunities for intimacy with him. Paramount is not our sin or suffering but instead His tender touch, given always to our wounds.
May we, then, patiently inhabit our petitions, for they are the narrow gate we must enter if we will inhabit the abundance of God.
As we practice our asking, seeking, and knocking, may we be like the child in Lee’s poem:
. . . I did not lift up my wound and cry,
Death visited here!
I did what a child does
when he’s given something to keep.
I kissed my father.
Prayers:
My heart is not proud, Lord,
my eyes are not haughty;
I do not concern myself with great matters
or things too wonderful for me.
But I have calmed and quieted myself,
I am like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child I am content.
Israel, put your hope in the Lord
both now and forevermore.
-- Psalm 131, NIV
O Lord, support us all the day long, until the shadows lengthen and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is done. Then in thy mercy grant us a safe lodging, and a holy rest, and peace at the last.
Amen.
-- 1928 Book of Common Prayer, a Collect for Evening
Alea Peister
Administrative Coordinator
Department of English
Biola University
For more information about the artwork, music, and poetry selected for this day, we have provided resources under the “About” tab located next to the “Devotional” tab.
About the Artwork;
Narrow Gate
Isamu Noguchi
1981
Basalt
64 1/8 x 33 1/4 x 16 3/8 in.
Weight: 1796.3 lb.
Granite base: 16 3/8 x 36 7/8 x 17 7/8 in.
The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum
New York, New York
Jesus’ disciples learned that following in the footsteps of the Lord often meant encountering challenges and difficulties. Through this teaching of the “narrow gate,” Jesus describes the pathway to life—true, eternal life—that is only found in seeking out and following him along the narrow way of discipleship.
About the Artist:
Isamu Noguchi (1904–1988) was one of the twentieth century’s most important and critically acclaimed sculptors. Through a lifetime of artistic experimentation, he created sculptures, gardens, furniture and lighting designs, ceramics, architecture, and set designs. Noguchi traveled extensively throughout his life and incorporated his impressions from traveling into his work, which utilized a wide range of materials, including stainless steel, marble, cast iron, balsa wood, bronze, sheet aluminum, basalt, granite, and water. In 1926, Noguchi saw an exhibition of the work of sculptor Constantin Brancusi that profoundly changed his artistic direction. Subsequently Noguchi went to Paris, to work in Brancusi’s studio. Afterward, his work turned to modernism and abstraction, infusing his highly finished pieces with a lyrical and emotional expressiveness. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor had a dramatic personal effect on Noguchi, motivating him to become a political activist. In 1985, Noguchi opened The Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum (now known as The Noguchi Museum) in New York. The museum has a serene outdoor sculpture garden, and many interior galleries that display Noguchi’s work, along with photographs, drawings, and models from his career. In November 2020, his piece entitled Floor Frame was added to the White House Rose Garden.
https://www.noguchi.org/artworks/collection/view/narrow-gate/
https://15olfn2rfn013q1hld13l6me-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Mining_Art_FINAL2.pdf
About the Music:
“I Can Almost See You” from the album Raise Your Voice...Trying to Stop An Echo
About the Lyricists/Composers:
Marc Byrd and Andrew Thompson
Carey Marcus “Marc” Byrd (b. 1970) is an American musician, writer, and producer best known as one half of the post-rock/ambient sound duo Hammock with Andrew Thompson. Since its formation in 2005, Hammock has released ten full-length albums and five EPs. After an impromptu invitation to give their first-ever live performance as Hammock at the overseas debut art exhibition of Riceboy Sleeps, the artistic collaboration between Jón Pór (Jónsi) Birgisson (lead singer and guitarist of Sigur Rós) and Alex Somers (member of the band Parachutes), Byrd and Thompson wrote brand-new songs to celebrate the occasion, an undertaking which evolved into their album, Maybe They Will Sing for Us Tomorrow. In December 2010, Hammock released their fourth EP, entitled Longest Year, a “mini-album” that was born out of the difficulty the band faced in 2010, including the near-total destruction of Byrd’s home in the 2010 Tennessee floods. Prior to the formation of Hammock, Byrd fronted the alternative rock band Common Children, as well as the band GlassByrd with his wife Christine Glass.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Byrd
Andrew Thompson is a Canadian Christian singer/songwriter. As a young man, Andrew discovered how he could best express his heart to Christ and to others. These passions shaped the direction of his life, and led to all kinds of different opportunities, not the least of which is his role as the Associate Pastor at WellSpring Community Church in Welland, Ontario, Canada. He is presently the National Worship Leader for Promise Keepers Canada. His recently completed first CD, The God Who Sees [Everything], is a collection of original songs written by Andrew, and also songs co-written by him with Anita Thompson (his wife), Noah Thompson (his son), Melanie Driedger, Jonathan Manna, and Greg Sykes.
https://andrewthompson.ca/bio
About the Performers:
Hammock is an American two-member ambient/post-rock band from Nashville, Tennessee. Hammock creates atmospheric music by combining orchestral arrangements with electronic beats, piano, and droning guitar. Hammock was formed as a collaboration between guitarists Marc Byrd and Andrew Thompson, both formerly of the alternative rock band Common Children, that developed out of informal recording sessions between songwriting projects. Hammock has released ten albums and five EPs since 2005, mostly on their own label, Hammock Music. Over the last few years, Hammock has expanded their musical horizons with a variety of collaborations and the addition of more of an orchestral aspect to their music.
https://www.hammockmusic.com/about
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammock_(band)
About the Poet:
Li-Young Lee (b. 1957) is an Asian-American poet. His maternal great-grandfather was Yuan Shikai, China’s first Republican President, who attempted to make himself emperor. Lee’s father, who was a personal physician to Mao Zedong while in China, relocated his family to Indonesia, where he helped found Gamaliel University. In 1959, the Lee family fled Indonesia to escape widespread anti-Chinese sentiment and, after a five-year trek through Hong Kong and Japan, they settled in the United States in 1964. Li-Young Lee attended the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Arizona, and the State University of New York at Brockport. Lee’s writing has been influenced by classic Chinese poets, such as Li Bai and Du Fu. Lee’s poetry is noted for its use of silence and, according to poet Alex Lemon in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, its “near mysticism” which is nonetheless “fully engaged in life and memory while building and shaping the self from words.” Though sometimes described as a supremely lyric poet, Lee’s poems often use narrative and personal experience or memories to launch their investigations of the universal.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li-Young_Lee
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/li-young-lee
About the Devotion Author:
Alea Peister
Administrative Coordinator
Department of English
Biola University
Alea Peister is a 2017 alumna of Biola’s Torrey Honors College. When she is not administratively coordinating Biola’s English Department, she takes long walks among the trees in her old suburban neighborhood, seeks out good coffee with friends, and likes to read. She also writes poetry (which she shares on Instagram at @forthesakeofsharing and on her blog, www.forthesakeofsharing.com), and hopes one day to undertake graduate studies in poetry, theology, or both.