He gave them what they wanted but sent meagerness into their souls. Psalm 106:15
I’ve got a bad picker sometimes. I ask for things that aren’t in His plan. They aren’t bad things, in fact most of them I would call good, at least for me. But that doesn’t mean they fit into His overall good. I’m grateful He doesn’t always give me what I want or what I ask for.
How often do we ask for something, even plead for it, without handing it to Him first? Sometimes He relents and gives us our way. But maybe it wasn’t the best thing. Think of Hezekiah on his deathbed, pleading to be healed. God did, and his remaining years after that were marked with spiritual failure and weakness. Or remember the two and a half tribes coming to the promised land that didn’t want to cross over but rather stay in the land that looked good to them. God said okay. But their history was one of constant battles and wars in their chosen space.
God wants us to come to Him with our requests, but when we insist on a certain outcome, we reveal our immaturity. I know I can request anything of God. I can pour my heart out to Him. I can even beg and plead. But He knows my heart. Am I coming to Him like an insistent child, wanting my way? Or with a heartfelt request that I am trusting in His character no matter the result.
May my pleadings always join with Jesus as He said, ‘Please, Father – but not my will but Yours be done.”
