I am a busybody. I like doing things. I confess that I have a list of things that I feel are ‘God-ordained’ like work (cause I am in ministry), helping my family, and working on my house. I use these as an excuse sometimes to get up in the morning and get right to work rather than turning to God in prayer to see how he would have me navigate the list. But, there are also things that I see that God has answered because I/we waited.
When we felt God call us to open our home to foster care and took in a 4 day old baby, we wanted him to be ours almost immediately. We circled him immediately. I’d like to say that was in a good way, but it was not. We ran around in fear, fretting, worrying, talking to lawyers, and trying everything we could do to manipulate the system so we could adopt him today. Then we prayed. We circled our family and laid this 6 month old in the middle. We prayed over him every night for a week. My wife and I fasted during that time. It was during that week, while I was pleading with God on a drive up I65, that He said, “Yes, he is yours.” Even though it was another two years and two months until it was official, we had peace because God had given him to us. We didn’t have to chase or try to take what wasn’t ours. We had been given a gift from God even before it was official.
The Israelites had the same thing in the Jericho story. They were coming out of the season of the desert and into the Lord’s promise. As they were approaching the city, Joshua encountered the commander of the Lord’s army. The commander told Joshua that the Lord had given him the city, and the Israelites had not done anything yet. They still had to obey, but the city was theirs. They could walk confidently because they had God’s answer. See Joshua 5-6.
This brings me to stories in First Priority. There are a number of situations in 3 communities that have me down right now. In studying to write this article, Mark Batterson reminds me of a few methods to pray through them. First, “Most of us don’t get what we want because we don’t know what we want.” (page 35). In one community, I know that we want provision. Finances to buy our leader’s time to do the work God has called him to. In two others, the minister is doing well and clubs are effective. But there is a spirit of discontentment. What I am discontent with is a little fuzzy. How can God answer my question if I don’t know what the question is? I need to think through my discontent then pray through that discontent. Second, I need to ask myself, “What if?” What if God answered this discontentment? Would it be the desired result that I am looking for? Would the heavens be open? Would God be glorified? Third, I need to “praise God for disappointment because it drives us to our knees.” (page 27). I wouldn’t be praying to and relying on God as much this morning if the discontentment wasn’t there. Thank you Lord for discontentment. Help me to pray through it.
