Why doesn’t God do everything we ask?
When I read this question, I paused long enough to ask another question, that is, what right do I have to expect God to do anything I ask? For those who don’t know God, He is not someone to turn to put forth these requests for they don’t acknowledge His existence. Yet, as soon as we discover that God is truly real, we somehow think we found a genie of sorts where we can go and have all our dreams come true.
How wrong we are in this thinking.
For if we came to know the living God, we would know His character, His heart, His plan. Nowhere does it say that He will grant us anything that is apart from His will. Yet, it says throughout the Bible that He does indeed give us the desires of our hearts when they are aligned with His will. His will is for us to love Him and His people. Simple as that. In order to love Him, we need to stay close to Him, learn about Him, seek Him, glorify Him, spend time with Him. The closer we come to Him the more we see His heart in all things. We see that He desires to love us and provide for us and protect us. He desires that we have life in all its fullness and that we receive a joy and peace that transcends all understanding.
He also knows that we need a savior in order to operate in this world and fend off Satan’s attack. Because He designed us, He knows what brings us the most joy before we do. So, in a sense, we don’t need to ask Him for anything for He has already given it to us. It’s there for the taking if we look for it. Oh, it’s not a car or house or job or money or health or companion. No, it’s better than that. It’s the freedom to not need any of those things. Now the fun part, should we be so close to Him, He may indeed give us these as well if He found that they could and would be used for his glory.
There is a strange sense of freedom when we lay down the need to ask God for anything except to know Him more. Our attitude changes from expecting anything to receiving everything. Our eyes and hearts are opened to take in all that God already has given and promised us, leaving nothing we could ever dream of asking that could be greater.
If this is true then, when we ask for anything other than to be close to God, then we are inserting that thing in front or in place of God. Do we really think the God of the universe does not know we might need a car or a job or food or clothing or a friend or comfort or healing? Is He asleep in heaven or busy in meetings or traveling and wasn’t aware of our needs? God is with us 24/7. He never leaves us. This means He is never not in tune to what we need. Never. For anyone of us who have walked with God for any length of time all know this to be true, that the road always leads back to God. We may start out seeking some worldly answer to our questions or needs but in the end, it’s always God that we come to when the world comes up short.
The time between when we start and when we submit to God can be shortened by our own free will. The quicker we come to Jesus, the quicker we get our answer.
The question is no longer “Why doesn’t God do everything we ask?”, but rather, “How can we find ways to thank God for all that He has given us?”
#Just a Thought…
