This is one of those scriptures that conveys to us something of the vast difference between us and our great Creator. Someone has said that we can't outdo God in giving, and that is true, but it is also true that we can't even come close to God in giving. His power to do, far exceeds both our power to ask and our power to think. There is no small gulf between our thoughts and ways and His thoughts and ways (See Isaiah 55:9). The difference is too vast for us puny mortals to conceive or comprehend. 

    There has never been a prayer that went unanswered because the petition was greater than God could fulfill. Oft-times He withholds things we ask of Him because He knows they would not be in our best interest, but never does He withhold anything from us because of a lack of ability on His part to grant our requests. 

    Our problem is that our prayers are often limited to small things because our unbelief restrains us from asking for larger things. It is quite characteristic of God's people to limit God in their own hearts and minds (Psalm 78:41). Consequently they often fail to ask, and therefore fail to receive, many things that they otherwise could have had. Many far higher and more God-honoring things are often not ours simply because we do not ask for them. The Lord exhorts His people to open their mouths wide, and assures them that if they do so He will fill it (See Psalm 81:10). Oft-times we barely part our lips for His blessings, and therefore receive comparatively little. 

    How blest we are that God has not limited His mercies toward us merely to the things we have asked or thought. For instance, I am convinced that we have all received many deliverances that we didn't even know to ask for, without which we would have suffered great harm or even death. Anyone who has eternal life received it without asking for it. They didn't ask for it because they didn't want it. No one wants it until they have it, and then if they ask for it, they only ask for what they already possess. 

    "And it shall come to pass, that before they call I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear" (Isaiah 65:24). What an amazing and wonderful God we have!