| “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us— whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.” |
| —1 John 5:14-15 |
Did you ever ask someone a question when you knew that they would very likely not answer in the way you had hoped? If so, why did you ask?
“Well, I thought the boss would likely refuse to give me an extra three weeks of vacation time with pay, but it never hurts to ask, does it?”
Yes, sometimes it does hurt to ask a question when, if you put yourself in the place of the person you were asking, you realize that the appropriate and reasonable answer would be either, “No!”, or to give no answer at all. Please allow me to illustrate the point I am trying to make:
Years ago, I had an acquaintance that began to entertain asking a woman out on a date. The problem was that she was married to someone else. He stewed about this for days and days. In fact, he drove those of us around him crazy while he debated whether to ask her to have dinner with him after work.
I told him several times that she was married and would likely deny his request, or not answer him at all. But, he finally talked himself into asking. And, what do you suppose she said? She responded in an emphatic and angry way.
“Don’t you realize I’m happily married?” she asked him with fire in her voice.
He slunk away with a wounded ego and eventually asked for a transfer to another territory, so that he would not have to see or deal with this woman whom he had so greatly offended.
I was, frankly, puzzled. I had told him she would not respond the way he had hoped. Others had told him the same. But, he insisted on making a fool of himself—and he succeeded marvelously in doing so.
When we come before God and lay our requests at His feet, we must do so knowing that what we ask is reasonable and appropriate. We can’t ask Him to bless some sinful endeavor we intend to undertake. We can’t ask Him to do something that is so outlandish that no reasonable person, let alone the God of the Universe, would grant such a request. The Apostle John clearly states the nature of our requests to God, when he writes these words found in 1 John 5:14-15:
This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.
When we ask according to His will, God hears and answers those requests we make of Him in prayer. So, naturally, when we pray, we should always examine our request to determine if it is the kind of request that would, indeed, be in accordance with His divine and perfect will.
Frankly, that opens up a very long list of appropriate items. Does God want to heal us from our affliction? Of course He does. Does He want to bring us out of despair and into the light of new life in Him? Yes! Yes, He does!
Praying this way—thoughtfully, carefully, wisely—is really not all that difficult. Simply consider the request we intend to make in light of what we know about God, His holiness, His righteousness, His perfection, His great love for us, His reasonableness. If our request passes the test, we can then make our request in confidence.
Let us this day determine to bring every request that is according to God’s will quickly to His attention. We will find that He longs to show His love by answering every request that we make in accordance with His will for us. Yes, He may ask us to wait for a more perfect time, or even say, “No!”. But, He will always give us an answer—one way or another—that is wrapped in His great love for us and with our very best interests in His mind.
Based on a blog originally posted on Thursday, July 26, 2018
