6 Whoever asks shouldn’t hesitate. They should ask in faith, without doubting. Whoever doubts is like the surf of the sea, tossed and turned by the wind.
Reflection
We have been asking for things since the day we were born. We cried when we wanted to be fed, we wrote our Christmas lists for Santa, we make special requests at restaurants and Starbucks so we can get exactly what we want. We have been taught to be polite and say please and thank you so that we are more likely to be looked upon favorably when we ask for something. But I am also sure we have all asked for things and not gotten what we wanted – maybe our parents couldn’t afford that toy we wanted or that trip we wanted to take with our friends, or maybe we didn’t get into the college of our dreams or get that job we really wanted. In my job I see kiddos whose parents desperately want them to walk and talk, and sometimes that just doesn’t happen. Sometimes kids die. Was it that their parents didn’t pray hard enough or ask the right way or did they put their faith in the “wrong” thing to help their child? Do I know why my friend lived 17 years after being diagnosed with glioblastoma when the average survival is 12-18 months after diagnosis with 25% of patients surviving more than a year, and 5% surviving more than 5 years. He was an amazing witness for Jesus, but I can’t tell you why he lived so long after his diagnosis. I have two other friends in the same friend group who have died of cancer – one of pancreatic and one of bile duct cancer – people who were in great physical shape and who had many people who loved them and prayed for them and over them. The question wasn’t “did they have faith that they would be healed?” The answer was that they had faith that God would take them and their family and friends through whatever was going to happen.
Do we expect that God will always do what we want? I think by now we have learned that this is not the case. Being a Christian does not mean that our lives are just smooth and easy. We are after all very flawed humans living amongst other flawed humans and bad things happen. What if the answer to our prayer is that God hears us and is there with us? That is what we can have faith in. Do we have doubts? Everyday about a lot of different things. Does our worry toss and turn us – is that the sea – the worry and doubt that we can’t handle what we might encounter in our lives? We want the outcome we want – we want the food made perfectly and the exact Christmas present we asked for, but we will be disappointed at times, but can we have faith that God will lead us through – that Jesus and the Holy Spirit are there to hold us up when we can’t hold ourselves up? Maybe in the form of friends who make us food or clean our house or take our kids for the day – maybe we get what we need in different ways. One thing for sure – we should always, always ask. God knows what we need before we ask but God wants us to ask. As Philippians 4:6 says, “Don’t be anxious about anything: rather, bring up all of your requests to God in your prayers and petitions.” Bad things happen. We know this, and we will doubt so much in our lives, but doesn’t doubting get us to ask questions and doesn’t asking questions get us talking to and about God, and doesn’t that help our faith grow? There are so many things we will never know or understand, but that is part of this life that we live. Not to downplay that because it is difficult at times, but the thing we can be sure of is that God is with us always.
For Pondering & Prayer
Thoughts: What have we been hesitant to ask of God? Are we afraid of the answer? Do we think we are unworthy to come to God with petitions and questions? Let’s not be afraid to come to God at all times with every thought, problem, and praise!
Prayer: God of every aspect of our lives, help us to always come to you. Help us to know that you hear our prayers and that you will never leave us. We know we doubt but be with us in that doubt. Amen.
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