...prayers

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight (or direct your paths)." Proverbs 3:5-6

It struck me recently how sometimes too many of my prayers are "Give me" prayers; that is, "God, please give me this, give me that, and so on."

It reminded me of what John Powell wrote in one of his books: "Some people treat God like a Giant Bayer's Aspirin [pill]: 'Take God three times a day and you won't feel any pain.'"

Somebody else suggested that some of us treat God as if He were a giant vending machine. Put your money [prayer] in the slot, push the button for the product [whatever it is you want] and hey, presto, out it pops!

Others treat God as if He were an eternal Father-Christmas-god so that we can keep asking for and receiving personal gifts ... all the things we want ... all year long!

Others set God up as if He were co-dependent. That is, to do everything for us that we need to take care of and do for ourselves but don't want to do. If God were to do anything for us that we can, should and need to do for ourselves, He would be keeping us over-dependent and immature—and we wouldn't be learning personal responsibility.

God will do anything for us that we can't do for ourselves. In fact He'll bend the heavens to touch the earth to do this for us—which He did when He sent Jesus, His Son, to die in our place to pay the penalty for our sins. But God won't do for us what we can and need to do for ourselves. He has promised to give us wisdom, guidance, and direction—but not to be our over-indulgent-vending-machine-sugar-daddy-god!

-dick innes