A few weeks ago, some of our guys went to an anti-drug and tobacco rally. And as with most youth conferences, there were all sorts of give-aways and prizes and drawings. We asked him how it was, and he said, "terrible. I didn't win anything." We asked him a few times what was interesting, what he learned trying to get him to talk about the whole point of the conference, but all he'd talk about was the process he didn't win and the coupons he did get. And I rolled my eyes at how he had missed the whole point of the conference.
More recently, he began talking about how, despite being recently saved, he wants nothing more to do with God, because God doesn't answer his prayers, like how he really wanted to win those door prizes. Now perhaps he was just in a bad mood that evening (which he very much was when he said that), but at the same time, maybe he really meant it. But all the same...admit it, you just rolled your eyes (I know I did) at how shallow that is.
Coming from a well-grounded Christian family, and being firmly rooted in knowledge of God's word, I know that God's not as interested in these details and minor events as we are. God doesn't care if we win a dirt bike as a door prize, or drive a Ford or a Chevy.
I almost want to say, "except...what if He does?", but that's not where I mean to go with this. What hit me about all of this, was how quickly I rolled my eyes at the shallowness of his frustration and prayer requests. And quite honestly, I didn't make the connection until today, but how often do we do this? And before you ask, no, I don't pray for door prizes or a nice car either, and I don't know many (or any) adults who do. But I do know many adults who pray for health, for money (to pay the bills), for stresses in their lives to go away. And I also know a lot of people who pray for these things, and then get mad at God when their health fails, when money runs tight, when things stay stressful. ...And isn't that just as shallow?
Now, I DON'T necessarily mean that we shouldn't pray for those things. But I DO mean that we should be ready to accept whatever answer God has for those requests. And even more importantly, we should also be praying, even more earnestly, for the big-picture things.
And of course, I say that quite easily, but I promise my prayer list looks quite different...lots of little "only affects my life" things. Seems the big-picture things just don't come to my mind often. Which begs the question, what ARE the big-picture things?
- our government, and its leaders: that they would stand up for what is right, and make decisions
that will most benefit our country as a whole.
- our country/society: that we'd return to good values and moral sense.
- missionaries, all over the world: that they would have an effective ministry, find rest and peace to continue, and be able to reach everyone they can for Christ.
