This morning as I was eating my breakfast and about to enjoy a hot cup of coffee, my son came to me with a look of distress on his face. "Mommy, my lego piece is stuck in the cupboard door." His news sounded a bit absurd to me, but I took a look anyhow. Sure enough, the lego piece had fallen through a hole that was once the home of a knob. My son showed me which lego piece it was - it was the top of the light saber for his Star Wars legos - a prized piece. Great - just how I wanted to spend my morning ... looking for a lego piece. But I knew how important it was for him, so I asked him to get me the screwdriver. After he returned with the tool, I encouraged him to pray about it, which he did. Then I asked him if he believed if God could answer his prayer, and he replied with a determined "yes."
It's funny how God has a way of bringing circumstances into your life that illustrate what He has been teaching you. I have been wrestling with the whole faith and prayer issue lately. It was recently brought to my attention at Bible study. There is a passage in Matthew 21 where Jesus teaches his disciples about prayer and faith.
In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry. And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, "May no fruit ever come from you again!" And the fig tree withered at once.
When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, "How did the fig tree wither at once?" And Jesus answered them, "Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' it will happen. And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith" (Matthew 21:18-22).
I've always struggled with this passage because I don't always get whatever I ask for in prayer. And I don't think it's because of a lack of faith. I know my heart, and I know and believe with all of my heart that God can do anything He wants to. He is omnipotent - all powerful, and there is nothing that He cannot do. Consider creation - all that He made out of nothing. With the simplicity of His spoken word all was created - the world, sky, light, land, sea, vegetation, living creatures, even man. So if God wanted to answer our prayers, He certainly could. But I think the heart of the matter is our hearts and our prayers.
I am firmly opposed to the "name it and claim it" belief where you name what you want and claim that you will receive it. I believe that is presumptuous, and a dangerous place to be with God. Who are we to know what God has planned? Prior to His ascension, Jesus told the inquiring disciples that it was not for them to know what the Father had planned for the restoration of Israel - something they had their hearts set upon. Their job, as Jesus reminded them, was to focus on the here and now, proclaiming the Gospel wherever they were (Acts 1:6-8). Furthermore, even Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, knowing the cross was before Him, prayed that He would not have to endure the wrath of God. But He didn't stop there. He concluded, trusting His Father and saying, "... not as I will, but as You will" (Matthew 26:39).
What kinds of things are you praying about - are they selfish requests - things that make you comfortable in this world? Or are your prayers saturated with a desire to be like Christ and have others seek after Him likewise?
So finding a lego piece isn't really a godly pursuit, but for a 6-year old boy who spends hours with his legos, there was, in my opinion, something to learn about God. After twisting and turning the screwdriver, I finally got the panel off. I looked through the door and laughed to myself. I foolishly thought the light saber fell down into the panel, but the hole went straight through the door. So there sat the lego piece next to one of the pots in the cupboard. I smiled at my son, and asked him to look in the cupboard. He was thrilled! We thanked God for rescuing the lego, and I replaced the door of the cupboard. And you know, my friend, I don't care how foolish I looked - yes, I should have checked if the hole went all the way through to begin with. I should have checked the cupboard before attacking the door with the screwdriver. But, I believe with all of my heart, that God used my foolishness to bring glory to Himself. This was a small lesson with gigantic implications if my son and I would embrace God's teaching. And I think we both have. PRAISE THE LORD!
Grace and peace to you!
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