Are You Asking The Right Question?

Life has a way of challenging our ability to not only navigate but also manage life events. All of us desire a life that’s free of trial or at least with limited conflict or trouble. What we discover in life are troubles all around us, and it’s our job to learn to navigate through those challenges the best we can. We soon discover that often the challenges that come our way are bigger than our abilities. We either learn to discover the knowledge and wisdom that we need or we suffer for it. These troubles should encourage us to pursue knowledge and wisdom outside of ourselves before crisis or challenge come our way, but all too often we are not taught at a young age to do so. The basic principles of development are often very hard to correct through learning when someone is older. I know this by experience!

One of the principles I learned early on in my Christian faith was the importance of generosity. This principle was not taught to me by my parents, but by the people that helped me come to Christ. The truth is that they taught me by their conduct more than by their words so when I read the scriptures it all came together in my soul. Generosity is demonstrated by God and should be demonstrated by his followers as well.

Proverbs 11:25 

The generous prosper and are satisfied; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed rage or face theses new challenges ill equipped.

When I was young, around 6 years old, I hit a challenge I did not expect and one for which my parents did not help me face well. Between the ages of 6-7 I had 6 major eye surgeries. These surgeries had to be done in San Francisco Children’s Hospital and were experimental at the time. The surgeons agreed to do the surgeries if my parents signed a waiver to allow them to try this new technique. My parents left me in the hospital all alone and when I woke up from the surgery my arms and legs were strapped down to the bed and patches were over each eye. I thought they has taken my eyes out!  Needless to say, I screamed for two days until my parents came to see me. This challenge in my life caused me to trust no one except myself. It also taught me to become more self centered and less than generous. These life lessons taught me the wrong values in life and consequently led me towards a destructive lifestyle. When we are not taught to seek God when we are confused we often flounder.

Generosity was the distant value in my life before knowing Christ and so was humility. These two values are meant to safeguard our lives and give us favor with God and man. If we lack these values or work in an opposite spirit we are working against God and His purpose for our lives. This is called hitting a brick wall.

1 Peter 5:6-7 

So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and in his good time he will honor you. Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about what happens to you.

James 4:7-8 

So humble yourselves before God. Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you. Draw close to God, and God will draw close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, you hypocrites.

I learned early in my walk with God to ask God many questions. My prayer life became my life line in discovering how I was created and how to navigate life’s challenges in a healthy way rather than creating messes everywhere. This brings me to the story where Jesus meets a woman who pleads for help and because she answered a question correctly got her request. I discovered that God is not willing to just give me what I want no matter how worthy the request is unless I also want to learn to walk with Him more completely because of His help. To often I meet believers that just want God to fix their lives without any desire to change. In my life, I have discovered God is the big change agent and He desires transformation for us.

Your Answer May Make The Difference

Mark 7:24-30 

Then Jesus left Galilee and went north to the region of Tyre. He didn’t want anyone to know which house he was staying in, but he couldn’t keep it a secret. Right away a woman who had heard about him came and fell at his feet. Her little girl was possessed by an evil spirit, and she begged him to cast out the demon from her daughter.

Since she was a Gentile, born in Syrian Phoenicia, Jesus told her, “First I should feed the children–my own family, the Jews. It isn’t right to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs.”She replied, “That’s true, Lord, but even the dogs under the table are allowed to eat the scraps from the children’s plates.” “Good answer!” he said. “Now go home, for the demon has left your daughter.” And when she arrived home, she found her little girl lying quietly in bed, and the demon was gone.

This woman understood that how she responded to Jesus was just as important as her request, if not more so. If we only realized our responses to God often either qualify us or deny us our request. This is not because God is stingy or trying to play games but because He wants our transformation.

Every time we seek God’s provision for healing, finances, relationship or whatever, He is seeking for our transformation most of all, to bring us to become more like His son Jesus.  I know I am more like Jesus since coming to Christ but I also know I would like to be more like Him than I am. The apostle Paul spoke about striving to conform to His image.  That image is learning to incorporate the characteristics that Jesus walked with…..generosity, humility and purity.

Acts 24:16 

So I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man.

Do we allow God to ask us questions or are we only interested in speaking our mind?  Are we so full of our needs that we never have time to hear about His desire to help others around us?  Are we aware that our proximity to God may affect our requests to Him?

The values of the kingdom of God are so often different than ours but we don’t see that. We need to seek the Lord daily to hear his perspective on things and potentially increase the answers to our prayer.

Questions:

When was the last time you took enough time in prayer to hear God’s voice? Getting quiet enough to hear is hard.

Have you realized your answers are often more important that your requests? Sifting though your thoughts helps.

Love to meditate on God’s word.

Pastor Dale