Knock, knock...

So, I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a.k.a. Mormons, in honor of the great prophet-historian, Mormon, who compiled the aptly named Book of Mormon; though I have to admit that those who originally branded us "Mormons" did so disparagingly and not with the intention to honor Mormon or his scriptural compendium. However, I digress. The purpose for my declaration of religious affiliation is to help explain why I was attending a Stake Conference meeting. A Stake Conference is a large meeting attended by the members of several congregations within the Church of Jesus Christ. By tradition there is a Saturday evening session held for adults, of which, sadly, I am one. This is sad in the sense that I'm an adult and not in the sense that I had to attend the meeting because I'm an adult; this being one of the benefits of the sad reality of being an adult.

I found this Saturday's session, on the whole, to be quite delightful. I admit that there have been occasions when they haven't been delightful, but this is because I haven't properly prepared myself beforehand, so instead of being spiritually nourished, I find myself doodling aimlessly on my notepad for the duration of the meeting. However, this time I was somewhat prepared and the meeting was a delight. Perhaps I was more prepared for this particular meeting because one of my good friends was asked to speak on the topic of testimony. I'd like to report that she did a fantastic job. I took a copious amount of notes (copious being here defined as a page and a half of a steno pad), and may in the future devote a post to her discussion. However, at the moment, there's something else that has struck me. Our local mission president (a mission president is one who presides over a mission in case you couldn't figure that out) was also asked to speak. He spoke briefly about a scripture that he has been discussing with the missionaries that serve under him. The scripture is from the book, "The Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints", hereafter referred to as D&C (for the obvious reason that I don't want to keep typing that title out), section 88, verses 63 and 64. They read:

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;

There are similar scriptures in the New Testament (Matthew 7:7 and Luke 11:19) as well as in other locations throughout the the Book of Mormon and D&C. He was using these verses in a discussion on drawing closer to the Lord with an emphasis on prayer. He made a distinction between "asking" and "knocking", which I hadn't really considered before, but when you think about it makes a lot of sense. The Lord distinguishes between the two. He states them as two separate things with two separate outcomes. Asking causes you to receive, but knocking opens things. I think we all understand, or at least it's accepted that asking refers to prayer, a verbal communication with the Lord, whether aloud or in the silence of our hearts. So as he was speaking I began to wonder, "What then is knocking?" The mission president made the point that he felt knocking refers to a persistence in drawing closer to the Lord, a persistence in asking. However, I'm not so sure. At least, if he's correct, I don't think he's captured the entire idea. I began to look at what makes up the two acts. Asking as I stated earlier is something you say (whether in thought or aloud). Knocking is something that you physically do. It's a physical action of striking an object with the usual intent of summoning someone. So how does this apply to the Gospel of Christ? I feel that "knocking" might refer to a physical act or actions, but what? Perhaps it deals with ordinances such as: being baptized, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, etc. Maybe it refers to keeping the commandment upon which, the blessing we seek, is predicated (sorry for the crazy sentence structure there, but if you read D&C 130:20-21 it will make some sense). I'm really not certain at the moment. This has opened a new realm of thought for me and I feel it is something that is beneficial for us to ponder.