Knock, knock.
Have you ever looked back on your life and thanked God that he didn’t answer yes to a particular prayer, I mean something or someone that, at the time you thought you could not live without?
I have.
There are days when I say aloud, "Thank you God! Thank you God! For not saying yes!"
If I am honest, looking back on it, I knew deep in my soul that I wasn’t ready or that God wasn’t ready, yet I attempted to force open closed doors.
I have had times in my life where I wasn’t getting the response I desired and so I forced situations. Every time that I did I ended-up in a position where I was basically miserable or at least had to go through the learning process all over again.
Jesus told his people to ask, seek and knock.
He did not say, "Demand from God that your will be done. Define what you think is best. Force every closed door to open."
Force means to coerce and usually involves tension applied to something. When I start forcing things I am usually panicked. To seek can be like searching old records on a lazy Sunday afternoon in an old record store and discovering a priceless record that you had long forgotten about.
At the same time, there have been occasions that I ask so much that my throat hurts; my eyes burn from seeking; and my knuckles bleed from knocking and I wonder what in the world God is doing.
Asking, seeking, and knocking are acts of faith and trust.
Demanding, defining, and forcing are acts of fear.
I wonder if what seems like delays are just really my learning what I really need and/or want. Maybe the door is already open, I just need to knock on the right door? I mean I don’t think God is some old due with a long beard who is bored with his life so he decides to toy with my life. Jesus said the kingdom is within me. Perhaps I need to ask, seek and knock deep within until I move beyond the noise and can no longer hear the clamor of fear and doubt but feel the heartbeat of God on the door of my soul.
We are promised that God hears us just like we a loving parent hears his/her child’s plea. I need to remind myself not to act like a child and demand that I get my way, but instead trust that Abba truly knows best.
10 Comments:
look at you, getting all jiggy with pictures.
loved this post, especially the Sunday afternoon record store analogy..
I love this post. It is so applicable to my life right now. Hearing what you say totally makes sense and I've thought those very thoughts, but somehow when you're in the midst of a situation where you want to know an answer, it's easy to forget to knock.
Your post also reminds me of the Garth Brooks song, Unanswered Prayers....sorry I'm a country fan. If you haven't heard the song before...it's about how some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers. The song is sort of like a story.
You got me with the analogy of the record store. This past weekend I went through boxes of photographs from my father's career as a photojournalist and what I used to think of as "just a bunch of pictures of cows and fairs" I now see as slices of Americana from the 60's-70's. Strangely enough, I see God in every one of those photos now and where I thought I knew my father's "eye" I now have a whole new level of appreciation.
Thanks for the great post!
Interestingly enough St. John Chrysostom addressed this centuries ago also! Seems we often need to consider this.
Almighty God, You have given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplication to You; and You have promised through Your well-beloved Son that when two or three are gathered together in His Name You will be in the midst of them: Fulfill now, O Lord, our desires and petitions as may be best for us; granting us in this world knowledge of Your truth, and in the age to come life everlasting. Amen.
Rick,
This is a great reminder....thanks so much.
Very good post...often my prayers are so much less than God is desiring for me.
Thanks!
I do so frequently look back and say thank God I'm no longer there, thank God He didn't give me that, and thank God He has a plan. I often look back and think why didn't I trust, why did I push, why did I force?, and thank God that He can still work things out for the good.
Here's to asking, seeking, waiting and knocking... with, hopefully, a healthy dose of patience thrown into the mix.
great blog!
your post reminds me of a discussion i had with the Lord earlier this year. long story, but He gave me a new appreciation for Psalm 46:10
Be still, child.
Know.
I AM God.
He breaks into my prayers sometimes and reminds me that He is perfectly capable of taking the reigns. He's good for sure.
I have definitely been there, trying to make things happen that weren't to be, begging God to MAKE something work when it was clear that it wasn't what was best for me.
Thanks for this post.
aweseome post.
I too have been struggling with 'wait' when I wanted 'yes'
God is faithful, it's just me who gets restless :(
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