In Everything, Pray

This is a hard scripture.  Jesus tells the disciples to be persistent in their prayers.  Persistence will pay off, he says, for God is like a father who takes care of his children. 
 
And yet, how many of us have prayed and prayed and prayed for things and never been given what we were asking for?
 
There are two things here that I think we need to remember:

1. Jesus wants us to bring our desires, our fears, our doubts, our needs—all of it—he wants us to bring that to him.  He wants us to trust him.  And we should trust him.  But here, especially, he is telling us that there is something happening to us, just in being faithful to ask.  He wants us to ask him.  Part of our faith development is learning that it is ok to ask God for things.  This leads to the second lesson.
2. Sometimes, and this is where it gets hard, the answer is ‘No.”  We see this silly little line about a father giving his son a scorpion rather than an egg, and often times we equate that with God giving us what we want, but that isn’t what Jesus is saying.  He is saying God gives us what’s best, not what we want. This is hard to understand and more than we can unpack here, but it is valuable none the less. 

When what we are asking for is for a loved one to be saved from a horrible disease, it can be really dicey to read this scripture and believe that God is doing what is best for us. 
 
But this world is fallen.  Sin has ruined the way things are supposed to work, and until we are restored to our full glory with Jesus, we will still have these struggles, and these questions. 
 
And he still wants us to ask.  He is still good.  Even when the answer is, “no.”

QUESTIONS FROM THE FIELD