Asking For Stones
May our sons in their youth be like plants full grown, our daughters like corner pillars cut for the structure of a palace; may our granaries be full, providing all kinds of produce; may our sheep bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our fields; may our cattle be heavy with young, suffering no mishap or failure in bearing; may there be no cry of distress in our streets! Blessed are the people to whom such blessings fall! Blessed are the people whose God is the LORD! Psalm 144:12-15
Sometimes when I’m reading Scripture in the mornings I get stuck on a passage and can’t move on. It’s like Jacob holding onto the Lord until He blessed him. I’ve been on this passage for several days now and it won’t let me go until I give it my blessing of understanding. It’s hard to describe. I don’t have a peace to move on. So I meditate on this before the Lord while waiting for the revelation of the passage for me.
Psalms 139 and 143 affected me the same way. I wrote them in my journal but didn’t process here. Even with those passages I felt I moved on too early.
The passage struck me because of how David was asking for prosperity. It seems he wasn’t shy about it. You know, beating upon his chest, piously explaining how unworthy he is and asking that God would somehow see fit to grant this one measly request, like he was putting God out. Remember when you would interrupt your dad while he was doing something and he would gruffly respond, “What do you want!” Or worse yet, when you have done this to your children.
I find that I approach Father this way. Maybe that is the bit of revelation I’m waiting to sink in. Father doesn’t respond in frustration or exasperation. He wants to bless us. He wants to love on us. But we in our attitude of “unworthiness” won’t allow it. I think one day in the future we’ll look back over our lives and realize just how much we missed out on. Not because of a stingy god but because of our own unwillingness to believe in a loving Father.
My wife has been sick and wanted me to pick some things up from the store last night after work. It was so that I would get there right at closing time. Therefore, she called and asked if they would collect the items and allow me to come and pick them up. When I got there I found out what clerk did the collecting and tried to give her a tip. She refused it. She missed the blessing I wished to bestow upon her. How many times have I done this to Father? I can remember occasions where someone tried to bless me and I refused. “When you’ve done it unto the least of these…” I refused because of my pious feeling of unworthiness, like it wasn’t right to receive a blessing from another. It was an insult to them. I wonder if Father is insulted when we refuse His gifts.
So what have I learned? Pray up! Don’t be shy in asking! The offense is not believing Father would grant such a prayer – not trusting and believing He is a loving Father who would not give a stone when we ask for bread. But why take the chance? So I continue to ask for stones thinking that bread is too much of a request.
Father, help me to take the limits off my thinking. Help me to see You and myself as You do and receive all that You want for me.
Sometimes when I’m reading Scripture in the mornings I get stuck on a passage and can’t move on. It’s like Jacob holding onto the Lord until He blessed him. I’ve been on this passage for several days now and it won’t let me go until I give it my blessing of understanding. It’s hard to describe. I don’t have a peace to move on. So I meditate on this before the Lord while waiting for the revelation of the passage for me.
Psalms 139 and 143 affected me the same way. I wrote them in my journal but didn’t process here. Even with those passages I felt I moved on too early.
The passage struck me because of how David was asking for prosperity. It seems he wasn’t shy about it. You know, beating upon his chest, piously explaining how unworthy he is and asking that God would somehow see fit to grant this one measly request, like he was putting God out. Remember when you would interrupt your dad while he was doing something and he would gruffly respond, “What do you want!” Or worse yet, when you have done this to your children.
I find that I approach Father this way. Maybe that is the bit of revelation I’m waiting to sink in. Father doesn’t respond in frustration or exasperation. He wants to bless us. He wants to love on us. But we in our attitude of “unworthiness” won’t allow it. I think one day in the future we’ll look back over our lives and realize just how much we missed out on. Not because of a stingy god but because of our own unwillingness to believe in a loving Father.
My wife has been sick and wanted me to pick some things up from the store last night after work. It was so that I would get there right at closing time. Therefore, she called and asked if they would collect the items and allow me to come and pick them up. When I got there I found out what clerk did the collecting and tried to give her a tip. She refused it. She missed the blessing I wished to bestow upon her. How many times have I done this to Father? I can remember occasions where someone tried to bless me and I refused. “When you’ve done it unto the least of these…” I refused because of my pious feeling of unworthiness, like it wasn’t right to receive a blessing from another. It was an insult to them. I wonder if Father is insulted when we refuse His gifts.
So what have I learned? Pray up! Don’t be shy in asking! The offense is not believing Father would grant such a prayer – not trusting and believing He is a loving Father who would not give a stone when we ask for bread. But why take the chance? So I continue to ask for stones thinking that bread is too much of a request.
Father, help me to take the limits off my thinking. Help me to see You and myself as You do and receive all that You want for me.
posted by brent at 11:27 AM
1 Comments:
Thank you. Why is it I never cease to be amazed at Father's timing of using his children, my brother, to encourage and teach me. Perhaps I do not ask for THAT enough.
mc
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