Devotions

 

Asking and Not Getting

It’s an interesting interaction between the Lord and the Apostle Paul and it begins with Paul asking for something very specific.

• 2 Cor. 12:8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.

An interesting side note – there’s someone else who made a similar plea three times and that was Jesus in the garden asking that this cup pass from him.  There are times in our lives when we are forced to deal with this truth.

• “The one thing you really want is the one thing you’re not going to get”

I asked my mom and dad once for something for Christmas that wouldn’t cost them money and would actually save them some. I asked that they put my brother Steve up for adoption.  They let me down – I think I got socks and underwear instead.  We’ve all been there…….The one thing we want is the one thing we don’t get.  It may be healing, successful surgery, employment, or a baby, we’ve asked, we’ve been specific but it never came the way we wanted.  This is why trust and faith are so important.  Because to fully trust God and to put faith in Him completely always allows for Him to do something better for us than we ask.  It may not feel better, it may not look better, it may not seem better, but if I fully trust and completely have faith – then I know it’s better than what I wanted.

When my grandma died I was just a kid but there wasn’t a preacher in America praying anymore or any harder than me.  And I was convinced that God would answer my prayer the exact way I was asking.  And when he didn’t it was such a struggle for me.  But I worked through it and began to understand with trust and faith what God was doing for her.  Instead of being mad at God for taking her – I began to thank God for taking care of her.

• Instead of mourning what I had lost I started anticipating what I’m going to have.

Time and truth showed me, that’s not what I asked for, it’s better.