Judges 1:14-21: a reflection

As the land is being settled, Caleb's daughter Achsah comes to her father with a bold request: having been given land in the dry South, she asks for springs of water to go with it. Give me a blessing, she says; because you have set me in the land of the South, give me also springs of water. She does not hesitate to ask for what she needs; she asks her father plainly and boldly for a good thing, for water to make her land fruitful. And Caleb, far from rebuffing her, gives generously: he gave her the upper springs and the lower springs, more than she had asked. Achsah asked boldly for good, and received even more than she asked. There is a lesson in her boldness: she did not hesitate to ask her father for the good she needed, and he answered generously. To ask boldly for the good we need, as a child asks a good father, is not presumption but the confidence of a child; and a generous father answers. Achsah asked, and received abundantly.

Notice Achsah's boldness in asking, and her father's generous answer. She had been given land, but land in the dry South; and she did not silently make do, nor timidly hint at her need. She came to her father and asked plainly and boldly for springs of water, for the good that would make her land fruitful. And Caleb answered not grudgingly but generously, giving her both the upper and the lower springs, more than she had asked. There is a lesson here about asking: Achsah did not hesitate to ask her father boldly for the good she needed, and he responded with abundance. We can be timid in asking for good, hesitant to bring our needs and desires plainly, as though asking were presumptuous; but the confidence of a child asking a good father is not presumption. And this pictures, too, how we may come to God our Father, asking boldly for the good we need, trusting him to answer generously. To ask boldly for good, as a child of a generous father, is fitting; and God, like Caleb, often gives more than we ask. Bold asking meets generous giving. The child who asks a good father boldly receives.

That is worth taking to heart, for we can ask boldly for the good we need, as a child asks a good father, trusting him to answer generously. We can be timid in asking, hesitant to bring our needs and desires plainly to God, as though bold asking were presumptuous; but Achsah asked her father boldly for springs of water, and received both upper and lower springs, more than she asked. The confidence of a child asking a good father is not presumption. God our Father invites us to ask boldly for good, and often gives generously, more than we ask. Do not be timid in asking God for the good you need; ask boldly, as Achsah asked her father, trusting him to answer generously. Ask boldly for the good you need, as a child asks a good father, trusting God to answer generously, as Achsah asked her father Caleb for springs of water and received both the upper and the lower springs, more than she had asked; for the confidence of a child asking a good father is not presumption but fitting, and God our Father invites us to bring our needs and desires plainly and boldly to him, often giving more generously than we ask, so that we need not be timid in asking him for good but can ask with the confidence of a child of a generous Father.