Why Didn’t You Just Ask?

Growing Daily

Why Didn’t You Just Ask?

We’ve spent the past several weekends helping my daughter get settled in a new house. My husband did all sorts of handyman jobs: hanging shelves, putting furniture together, spackling, changing light bulbs, etc.  One day a thought suddenly crossed my mind: Hey, I actually live with this handyman. Why do I so often struggle to do things myself?

I don’t usually ask for his help until it becomes obvious that my own efforts are futile. Many, many times—for example when he finds me in the garage balancing precariously on a ladder trying to reach something he could easily have gotten off a shelf—he says, “Why didn’t you just ask me?”

I wonder how often God could ask the same thing of me. I’m reminded uncomfortably of James 4:2, “You do not have because you do not ask God.” The all-powerful Creator has told me to cast my cares on Him (1 Peter 5:7). He has specifically said I should not be anxious and should instead pray about everything (Philippians 4:6). Why, then, do I so often try to work things out on my own?

I suspect my husband will continue to find me doing things the hard way. But I hope that I’m learning to recognize the spiritual equivalent of that precarious ladder situation. I hope that I’m learning to more quickly and boldly ask for God’s help rather than relying on my own understanding (Hebrews 4:16; Proverbs 3:5-6).


- Catherine Reid