Bring God In

This is God’s Message, the God who made earth, made it livable and lasting, known everywhere as God: ‘Call to me and I will answer you. I’ll tell you marvelous and wondrous things that you could never figure out on your own.’ (Jeremiah 33:2-3)

Why does God, the one who made all things and knows all things, require us to ask for whatever it is we need or want? To be required to ask when he knows already seems kind of foolish on the surface, but if you stop to consider what "asking" entails, you may come to a revelation of the true purpose of asking. Asking requires us to humble ourselves, not to mention allowing for time to bring a clarification of our wants and needs. Have you ever sought one thing, only to find when you received it the "thing" did not do for you whatever you hoped it would? I realized just how much I didn't really need what I asked for - it was just something to "fill space" in my life, but that "space" really should have been occupied by something else (or someone else).

Asking is a process - not a one-time thing, but a developmental process. To truly understand what is behind our "asking", we have to understand the process. We have a want or a need. The difference is that one of these is sort of like icing on a cake. Cake alone is good but put the icing on it and it is great. A need is like the cake - it provides what will bring satisfaction. The want is like the icing - it provides that little bit of "wow" into our lives which we long for in some way. It involves knowing the difference between the two. As long as we are confused as to the difference between a want and a need, we will constantly be asking for our wants rather than our needs. A steady diet of icing will only put us on sugar-overload!

Although there may be a little "high" from having the want met, it is short-lived and soon we are "let down" by it. What we need is what will sustain us for the long-haul. Asking requires us to be humble enough to actually ask. Some of us will do almost anything in our own effort BEFORE we ask for help! It isn't until we have failed to bring about something that we humble ourselves enough to ask. God wants us to learn to rely upon another, not just ourselves. Too many of us start out thinking we cannot be "dependent" upon anyone for our "success" in life. In time, God will bring all of us to the same conclusion - life lived "independent" of his care and protection is just not life lived to its fullest!

We must put into words whatever it is we need. We often have a hard time articulating what it is we need. We just cannot find the words to express it - or we just plain don't know. Just because we don't know how to put into words what we have need of doesn't mean God doesn't need to hear from us - he provides the Holy Spirit to "utter those inner needs" directly into the ear of our heavenly Father. It calls for us to be open to hearing. It is much easier to speak about what we need and then so very hard to be quiet long enough to actually hear how it is God might plan for us to have that need met! Part of asking is being quiet - putting the need out there and then resting in our position of humble waiting. Waiting is not the strongest suit for many of us - me included. This process of waiting and listening is difficult and requires more of us than the actual "asking" does in the first place! It is the part of the process where we get clarity and begin to see God at work in our lives. Apart from hearing, we have just "us" in the picture! Hearing allows God to be "brought in"! Just sayin!