Ask and Ye Shall Receive

In the revealed preface to the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord said, “And again, verily I say unto you, O inhabitants of the earth: I the Lord am willing to make these things known unto all flesh” (1:34). That the Lord is willing to give us knowledge is indeed one of the themes of the Doctrine and Covenants and Restoration as so beautifully declared in one scripture: “If thou shalt ask, thou shalt receive revelation upon revelation, knowledge upon knowledge, that thou mayest know the mysteries and peaceable things—that which bringeth joy, that which bringeth life eternal” (42:61). His promise is that if we will ask, He will continually reveal to us the most important kind of knowledge. We need not rely only upon the testimony of Joseph Smith and the prophets; rather, as Brother Joseph said, “God hath not revealed anything to Joseph, but what He will make known unto the Twelve, and even the least Saint may know all things as fast as he is able to bear them, for the day must come when no man need say to his neighbor, Know ye the Lord; for all shall know Him … from the least to the greatest.”    

               Many other passages in the Doctrine and Covenants confirm God’s willingness to speak to each of us, that if we will ask we will receive. He promised Joseph Smith Sr. as he did anciently: “Ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Amen” (Doctrine and Covenants 4:7). The Lord similarly told Oliver Cowdery: “Therefore, if you will ask of me you shall receive; if you will knock it shall be opened unto you” (6:5). Hyrum received the same counsel: “Therefore, if you will ask of me you shall receive; if you will knock it shall be opened unto you” (11:5). Joseph Knight learned the same thing from the Lord: “Therefore, if you will ask of me you shall receive; if you will knock it shall be opened unto you” (12:5). David Whitmer was likewise told, “Therefore, if you will ask of me you shall receive; if you will knock it shall be opened unto you…. And it shall come to pass, that if you shall ask the Father in my name, in faith believing, you shall receive the Holy Ghost” (14:5,8). Again and again, especially in the early revelations that Joseph received, the Lord invited us, “Ask and ye shall receive; knock and it shall be opened unto you” (49:26). This promise, perhaps the most common in all of scripture, witnesses to us that if we will seek the Lord earnestly in prayer we will receive.

In the great olive leaf revelation, the Lord gave this powerful invitation: “Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Whatsoever ye ask the Father in my name it shall be given unto you, that is expedient for you” (88:63-64). This is really the same invitation that the Prophet has given to us—to Hear Him. The Savior emphatically invites us in the Doctrine and Covenants to do just that, to draw near to Him, to seek Him diligently, to ask and to knock. As we do so He promises that, in His own way and His own time, we shall obtain.