Wednesday of the Second Week of Lent - February 27, 2013
Wednesday of the Second Week of Lent
Matthew 20:20 – 23
Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, and kneeling before him, she asked a favor of him. And he said to her, “What do you want?” She said to him, “Declare that these two sons of mine will sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.” But Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?” They said to him, “We are able.” He said to them, “You will indeed drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left, this is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”
“You do not know what you are asking.”
This single line is an appropriate description of our most common approaches to prayer. We bring our prayer lists to God, tell God what we want, and believe that whatever we ask will be granted. If we step into it blindly, this format can tend toward genie-in-a-bottle prayer and wish-fulfillment, rather than connection, engagement, and participation with God . .. which is ultimately what prayer is all about.
Most always, when our prayer is mostly requesting from God and sharing information with God, we do not know what we are asking. We can’t see the entire scope of the field, so to speak. We see only one tiny aspect of a wondrous whole and we ask related to that one miniscule element . . . without thought of the larger framework or the whole of the landscape. We ask without having all the information and without knowing the whole story.
Hear this: There is nothing wrong with this kind of asking . . . IF you hold it loosely and can hear God’s “No” to the small asking . . . in order to receive God’s “Yes” to the larger need. Ask away, in other words, but don’t be too attached to what you are asking for. Don’t be “all-in” to get what you ask for in the way that you want to receive it.
Some people find God to be a huge disappointment, a grand let-down, because God has not given them what they asked for in the way they have asked. I always encourage such folks to stay open to what God is giving, rather than what they are not getting. But often these folks are so attached to the one specific thing they’ve requested that they can see nothing else.
So then, what does prayer look like? A growing prayer life is more about connection, not request. It is about silence and openness, listening and speaking. It is the posture that says, “Nevertheless, not my will, but Yours be done. Let me be a part of what You are doing in the world.”
It can almost always be said of my prayer, “You do not know what you are asking.”
Matthew 20:20 – 23
Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, and kneeling before him, she asked a favor of him. And he said to her, “What do you want?” She said to him, “Declare that these two sons of mine will sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.” But Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?” They said to him, “We are able.” He said to them, “You will indeed drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left, this is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”
“You do not know what you are asking.”
This single line is an appropriate description of our most common approaches to prayer. We bring our prayer lists to God, tell God what we want, and believe that whatever we ask will be granted. If we step into it blindly, this format can tend toward genie-in-a-bottle prayer and wish-fulfillment, rather than connection, engagement, and participation with God . .. which is ultimately what prayer is all about.
Most always, when our prayer is mostly requesting from God and sharing information with God, we do not know what we are asking. We can’t see the entire scope of the field, so to speak. We see only one tiny aspect of a wondrous whole and we ask related to that one miniscule element . . . without thought of the larger framework or the whole of the landscape. We ask without having all the information and without knowing the whole story.
Hear this: There is nothing wrong with this kind of asking . . . IF you hold it loosely and can hear God’s “No” to the small asking . . . in order to receive God’s “Yes” to the larger need. Ask away, in other words, but don’t be too attached to what you are asking for. Don’t be “all-in” to get what you ask for in the way that you want to receive it.
Some people find God to be a huge disappointment, a grand let-down, because God has not given them what they asked for in the way they have asked. I always encourage such folks to stay open to what God is giving, rather than what they are not getting. But often these folks are so attached to the one specific thing they’ve requested that they can see nothing else.
So then, what does prayer look like? A growing prayer life is more about connection, not request. It is about silence and openness, listening and speaking. It is the posture that says, “Nevertheless, not my will, but Yours be done. Let me be a part of what You are doing in the world.”
It can almost always be said of my prayer, “You do not know what you are asking.”
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