James 1:5-8
If any of you need wisdom, you should ask God, and it will be given to you. God is generous and won’t correct you for asking. But when you ask for something, you must have faith and not doubt. Anyone who doubts is like an ocean wave tossed around in a storm. If you are that kind of person, you can’t make up your mind, and you surely can’t be trusted. So don’t expect the Lord to give you anything at all.
Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.
Our niece went shopping for a rug for her new house. She found two she really liked at a great price, so she bought them both. She was worried that the rug she chose might not be right, so she kept her options open by purchasing two. She reasoned that she would either find a use for the one that didn’t work as well… or she would return it. In other words, she had doubts.
There is probably little to no harm in doing this with a rug purchase. But when we lack confidence in our prayers… when we fail to trust God to do what He has promised and cannot make up our mind, we can’t expect God to be front and center with answers. Am I saying that God will withhold answers from us? Not necessarily. I am saying that what we expect and what God grants us may be two completely different things… and rightly so!
Think of it this way… suppose you want a family member to help you with something. You know that he/she will gladly do this… but you don’t want to ask them. So you sit at home and wait… expecting this person to read your mind or have some sort of magical mental telepathy and know that, “Hey, So-and-So needs my help!” When no help arrives, do you have a right to be upset? What if you did ask for help, and then you decided, “He/she won’t really come through,” so you went off and did something else and weren’t where you said you would be at the appointed hour? Would you be entitled to be upset with the person you asked to help you? Do you think he/she would be interested in agreeing to help you again? Would you blame them?
This is what we do all the time with God. We ask Him for help – or guidance – or some sort of answer or miracle. Then we “leave home.” We decide that there is no way God will really come through for us. We doubt His ability to deliver and His promises… and we doubt our own ability to hear and believe His answers. We don’t really give God a chance to answer. And then we wonder why things are not going so well in our lives.
Read this passage again, and really let its message soak into your heart and mind. Don’t have doubts. Don’t second guess or hedge your bets when you pray. There is only one option. You can’t ask God to help you and then develop a “back-up” plan. God is all you need! He is always the right choice, and He stands ready, willing, and more than able to meet your needs. The question is… will you let Him?
©2012 Debbie Robus
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