Praying With My Answer In Mind

isn't really praying

Photo by Elianna Gill on Unsplash

If we really wish to seek God’s will about something, doesn't that mean we need to be willing to hear an answer that may or may not be what we want?

Here’s what I mean. If I want to know if God is calling me to be a missionary in a foreign country, I have to be open to God saying yes. But if I do not want to be a missionary, if I believe God would never call me to be a missionary, if I have trouble with foreign languages and an aversion to extreme climates, I’ll probably be plugging my ears to any answer but no. Everything in me seems to say no, so I assume God will say no too.

If I don’t believe God could change my desires or my physical weaknesses, then I’ve already drawn the boundaries within which God ought to work in my life.

This is not seeking God’s will but fashioning a god formed after my own likeness. I am like a blacksmith who hammers a god out of metal or a carpenter who carves a god out of wood or, in this case, an American who dresses up God as my quintessential granter of life, liberty, and my pursuit of happiness.

The average Joe Smoe might think it’s silly for an American to ask God about becoming a foreign missionary, but if God lays such a question on our hearts, he is inviting us to participate in his glorious, powerful, and often comically fantastic work. True, he doesn’t need us to do this work, and if we refuse, he’ll do it another way. But why shrink back now? Why stunt the work he has begun within us? Haven’t we said we would follow him? Doesn’t that mean asking, “What next, God?”

Is there anything the Lord is laying on your heart to pray about? If so, are you open to his answers?

"Don't ever deprive me of truth, not ever—
your commandments are what I depend on.
Oh, I'll guard with my life what you've revealed to me
guard it now, guard it ever;
And I'll stride freely through wide open spaces 
as I look for your truth and wisdom."
-Psalm 119:43-45 MSG