Carolyn J. Rasmus wrote:
A scripture concerning prayer which had always troubled me suddenly became understandable to me. (“The eyes of my understanding were opened”— Doctrine & Covenants 138:11.) Christ said to his disciples: “Ask and it shall be given to you; seek, and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you.” (Luke 11:9.) That instruction seems clear enough, but what follows gives us great insight concerning our Father in Heaven: “If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will ye give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give a serpent? Or if he ask an egg, will ye for an egg give him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?” (Luke 11: 11-13)
The scriptures relate a father responding to a son to our Heavenly Father responding to us. Often a child asks for something, but either because of experience or knowledge or understanding (of the child and/or of the situation), the parent does not give the child what he asks for. This may occur because the request is not in the child’s best interest, or because of the parent’s love for the child. Sometimes in being given “bread” the child perceives he is really being given “a stone.” . . .
All our prayers are answered, though sometimes not in the way we anticipate (and in retrospect, how grateful we can be that they are not).
Even the Savior’s prayer in Gethsemane was answered in the negative. In addition to learning that prayers are not always answered as we wish them to be, we learn two other important lessons from the Savior’s experience. First, following his prayer we are told that an angel appeared unto him, strengthening him. Sometimes when we wish for a certain situation to be resolved or made right or prevent it from happening, it is in our own best interest to be blessed instead with peace or understanding or additional knowledge or comfort or courage or increased faith or strength to bear up. Our Heavenly Father who is all-knowing, all-wise, and who loves us very much, will always answer our prayers! ~Carolyn J. Rasmus, A Year of Powerful Prayer (Salt Lake City, Deseret Book, 2013), 209-10.
