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9/15/04
“Here’s what I’m saying: Ask and you’ll get;
Seek and you’ll find; Knock and the door will open. Don’t bargain with God. Be
direct. Ask for what you need. This is not a cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek game
we’re in. If your little boy asks for a serving of fish, do you scare him with a
live snake on his plate? If your little girl asks for an egg, do you trick her
with a spider? As bad as you are, you wouldn’t think of such a thing—you’re at
least decent to your own children. And don’t you think the Father who conceived
you in love will give the Holy Spirit when you ask him?” Luke11:9-13 (The
Message)
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What if you ask but you don't get?
Being self-employed is frequently equivalent to being unemployed. Dry spells
when no one is seeking out your services are common. Usually, they are also
temporary. My wife and I are both self-employed and we are going through quite
an extended dry spell. Very extended. Very dry.
Every day we pray, ask, seek, knock. Sometimes, we even bargain a little. And we
question a lot.
In an article titled "The Gift of Unanswered Prayer," Jerry Sittser states,
""When we pray, we pray not only as saints but also as sinners, very much
inclined to use prayer to advance our own selfish interests, even when we pray
out of desperation. Prayer for that reason is highly complex. On the one hand,
the very act of praying reminds us that we are children of God. On the other
hand, that same act of praying exposes us for the fallen creatures we are."
Every time I approach God with our need, I am keenly aware of my fallenness and
even wonder how much that is creating what feels like a lack of response; what
feels sometimes like "a cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek game." And, as I pray,
others I know who have been looking for jobs for years come to mind. Not to
mention the hurricane victims in Florida who are truly in desperate need. I feel
selfish and confused in my own need.
Oswald Chambers wrote, "You cannot think through spiritual confusion to make
things clear; to make things clear, you must obey." That's easier said than
done, especially when it isn't clear what you're supposed to be doing in order
to be obedient.
Still, taking our cue from Paul in Ephesians 6, as best we can, having done all
we know to do, we are standing in faith looking to God for His provision. Either
that or, as my wife and I have told others, we're fools who are completely off
the mark.
How in the world do we hold on to faith in the face of circumstances that reek
with despair? For us, it is possible, even weakly, because we have seen the hand
of God emerge bright and shining out of the darkest gloom. While many of the
prayers we pray daily seem to "bounce off the ceiling," we know at least some
are being heard, at least in part. We have seen tiny evidences of shifts in the
lives of loved ones for whom we have been praying. We have, just this summer,
seen two people, one a friend and one a nephew, who were diagnosed with cancer
be declared cancer free. We have known His provision month after month in the
past. We experience His grace day after day even now. Yet it still gets scary.
Chambers also wrote, "Every time you venture out in your life of faith, you will
find something in your circumstances that, from a commonsense standpoint, will
flatly contradict your faith. But common sense is not faith, and faith is not
common sense. In fact, they are as different as the natural life and the
spiritual."
That's pretty much what it feels like right now. We don't know what tomorrow
holds, but we do know Who holds tomorrow. While we can't see any light at the
end of this current tunnel, we know and believe and sense that it is there.
Along with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (Daniel 3) we say, “the God we serve
is able to save us ... and he will rescue us ... But even if he does not..."
Well, you know the rest of that story. I hope ours has a similar ending. In the
meantime, it's feeling pretty warm.
-- Stephen R. Clark
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Stephen (Stephen@StephenRClark.com) resides in Fishers, Indiana and operates FishersWorship.com and FishersFind.com. He is a professional writer and communications consultant.
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