What do you want?

14 Now it happened, when she came to him, that she urged him to ask her father for a field. And she dismounted from her donkey, and Caleb said to her, “What do you wish?” 15 So she said to him, “Give me a blessing; since you have given me land in the South, give me also springs of water.” And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.

Judges 1:14-15 (NKJV)

Caleb had promised his daughter in vs 12 to whoever conquers Kirjath Sephar. Othniel his brother had held unto this word and taken Kirjath Sephar, and he was given the daughter of Caleb as wife. Caleb is a man of integrity and trustworthy, so Othniel knew he was going to do what he said. 

Caleb’s daughter (Achsah) in vs 14-15 then requested a blessing from her father. This is strange because women do not normally get the inheritance of their fathers, it was given to the men, because the women will share in the inheritance of their husbands.
But, here we see a woman who gives us a picture of how prayer should look like. It is a son/daughter coming before the father and communication with him. She didn’t care whether it was cultural or not, all she knew was that she was coming to her father.

And we see also that Caleb did not turn her away, but he asked her, “What do you want?” This is the example we must look after when we come to the place of prayer. It is not the place where you wonder if you are meeting cultural requirements or not. It is a place where you express your desire before your father.

Charles Spurgeon mentioned some elements of Achsah’s prayer here. He said, “In her prayer; she went humbly, yet eagerly. She asked for what she wanted. She came in simplicity. Her prayer was “Give me a blessing”. She had gratitude in her petition, recognising what she had already received. And she came to him as a daughter comes to a father.”

This is saying to us that when we approach God, we must be humble before God in prayer knowing that It is a pleasure for God to hear His people ask. And when we come, we must come with a heart of gratitude, recognising what God has done in the past. Finally, not just humbly but boldly, because a son/daughter comes boldly before his/her father.

PRAYER

My Father, I thank you for my life and everything you have done in it, both known and unknown. Thank you for telling me once more that I can bring all matters before you because you are my Father and you care for me. Nothing is too small or too big to bring before you. Forgive me for my pride of ignoring you in certain things in my life and help me to come humbly and boldly before always concerning all matters in my Life. Help me to daily cultivate my life of prayer and open my heart before you always.