Re:Verse reading–1 Samuel 1 (day three)
“O Lord Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant’s misery and remember me…” Is it wrong to haggle with God? Would we even consider an “if-you-do-this-I’ll-do-that” arrangement? Have we decided to place ourselves above such dealings? Do we believe it would even make any difference? It’s interesting to consider that from the Old Testament to the New Testament, from people to demons and back to people, such conversations with the Lord have been common: Abraham, Moses, Hannah, David, Legion (!), Peter, Paul. Maybe we would see the power of God more if we would tell him what we want. That’s not the same as demanding what we want. Even the demons knew that. God will take care of his own responses to us. Just speak to him.
Demanding what we want won’t work. It is not right with God and it is not right with anyone who may have a limited power and authority to provide what we want. Instead of demanding, we should express our desires for what we hope for or are seeking. God is the judge and He will provide what we wish to have if what we wish to have is of His will for us.
He knows what we need and will provide in His timing. We cannot demand anything because we don’t deserve anything but can submit our desires to God. Demand is to request forcefully while desire is to wish for earnestly.
God does not owe us anything so we cannot demand or complain. It is a wrong approach to take. God has been very generous to us by sacrificing His only son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross to save us from sins and for us to have an eternal life with Him in Heaven. What else are we demanding? If we want more, submit our desires, not our demands, and patiently wait to hear from God!
In life, demanding is the wrong approach to get what we want or to get what people owe to us. It creates unsettled feeling and this can cause more harms than good. Expressing our desires for something should work well in all situations. People tend to be on the side of those who express what they want by desires, not by demands. We need to ask ourselves, “who owes what to whom”? We owe to ourselves for finding the right approach and strategy to ask for something that people don’t owe us!!
Whatever we wish for, submit to God. I do all the time and He gives. Sometimes, I did not wish for but He also gave. He gave what I did not expect!
God knows what you need and what you deserve and He will provide. Have faith and trust in Him. He is an amazing God!
Oswald Chambers tells us that we don’t pray to get things from God; we pray to get God Himself (If You Will Ask). It seems to me you are onto the greater reality of the heart: “Take delight in the Lord and He will give you the desires of the heart” (Psalm 37:4). It’s not about my getting what I want….it’s about Him putting in my heart the things He knows I need along with the desire to acquire those. If I am going to be holy as He is holy, then the Holy Spirit is going to have till all the soil in my soul as well as plant the seeds of that holiness. And He has to give me the desires for the life God intends me to live. It is all His work. But I must give Him access to my heart and mind and soul.