In the first book of Samuel (the book after Ruth) there is a woman, Hannah, who has not been able to have a child and she is heartbroken.  In Sam.1:8, her husband Elkanah says to her, "…aren't I better to you than ten sons?"  Those of you who have suffered barrenness know that you can't compare a husband with a child.  They are not a trade off.  You have a husband.  You want a child.  You want both.

Hannah accompanied her husband every year to Shiloh to petition God for a child, and made an "If-then' statement in her prayer to God.   I taught math at a small college for years and the premises of proofs is the "if--then" statement.   If something occurs, then there is a specific result.

This is interesting to me because I would never be able to bargain with God and say, "If you do this, then I will do that."  But Hannah did.  She told God that if he would send her a son, then she would dedicate him to the service of God.

Well, God gave Hannah what she asked for, and when the boy was of a certain age, she took him to the temple and turned him over to Eli to train in the service of God.  She kept her bargain.

The story throws new light on the verse in  Matthew 7: 9,  "…what man is there of you, who if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?"   However, the difference in the New Testament is that it is God who is initiating the bargain.   He assures us that if we give our lives to him, then he  will be our Father.  That he will take care of us.  Jesus said in John 14:13, "…whatever you shall ask in my name, that will I do, that The Father may be glorified in the Son."  We just need to be sure that what we ask for will indeed glorify God.

Faith in God is the key to the relationship between you and the Father.