A friend of mine is praying for wisdom.
That in and of itself is pretty remarkable. I sometimes wonder to myself, if God gave me 3 wishes, what would I wish for? The most immediate things that come to mind are always stupid tangible material things. Ok, so the Exploder will kick it someday and a nice new truck or SUV would be perfect, right? Don’t you think so God? Think of how many people I could help having that new vehicle! And yes, I know… I’ve been blessed with a nice big TV. But them make them BIGGER now a year later. And besides, we need a new one so we can use this one for the kid’s play area that we are working on in the garage. And speaking of houses…
And then I come back to the same thing as my friend. Wisdom. I really need little more than that. Wisdom can find it’s way through all the things as mentioned above (and generally land on the “not necessary” side!) and more. What about personal relationships? What about involvements? How to deal with tough situations? Wisdom is the key.
Interesting, Ozzy talks about prayer today:
“Everyone who asks receives . . .”. We pray religious nonsense without even involving our will, and then we say that God did not answer— but in reality we have never asked for anything. Jesus said, “. . . you will ask what you desire. . .” Asking means that our will must be involved.
There’s that word, “will” again.
I’m finding that God’s will isn’t as specific as we think it is. Does God want me to live in Olathe, KS or Bar Harbor, ME? Drive a Chevy or a Ford (or Honda?!). Or any of a number of other questions I could ask. Though I often see this as “critical” to my life, I don’t think that’s really what God sees. I should be able to serve God in Kansas OR Maine. There isn’t a ONE will of God in this for me. I’ve read too much of Ozzy, he tends to center on God’s will as being in close relationship to US. When our minds are becoming one with His that we see that our will is that of His will and vice versa.
That said, there still must be some decisions down the road and I don’t pretend to have all the answers. I pray (make that plead) daily for God’s help (wisdom perhaps?!) in helping me find my next vocation. Ok, I’m not quite that spiritual about it. I’m actually asking for someone to knock on my door and say, “you don’t really know me, but I need you to come work for me. You are the perfect person for this job. All your gifts, interests and strengths will be use in this job. Oh, and I’ll gladly pay you $95,000/year, with full benefits including 4 weeks of vacation and other special time off for when others need help.”
A guy did just knock on my door. And he did use many of those things above. And he even paid me money! For some work I’ve done for him the past couple of weeks. That work is complete, no benefits, no vacation, no ongoing employment.
So, Lord, I too pray for wisdom. For myself. For my friends. May we not rest on our own merits and wait for that knock. Rather, may we find rest in You and may our minds be as Yours.
