God: My Personal Assistant
Are you offended? Does my title, stating that God is my personal assistant, sound brazen? It should.
For me to think that God is at my beckon call, that he is just waiting for my prayer with my request, and will jump to answer it to my satisfaction, is pretty crazy, don’t you think? And yet, as you surely must agree if you stop to think about it, that’s how many people treat the God of the Universe.
Why? Why would we do that? Well, there is some biblical precedent, although out of context I would contend. Such as Matthew 7:7 where Jesus says, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” Seems straight-forward, right? Just ask and God will give it to you, so isn’t that OK? In another place, Jesus says, “And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith” (Matt. 21:22). I’m asking, you may say, but I’m not receiving what I asked for.
There’s a biblical interpretation principle that says we must allow the Bible to interpret the Bible. What does that mean? It means that if one verse seems confusing, just doesn’t ring true, there may be another one on the same topic that helps clarify how to understand the first one. In this case, if we look at what the apostle John says in I John 5, we find these words, “And this is the confidence that we have toward God, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. If we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.”
This complements what we heard earlier from Jesus and helps explain how it works. We will be given what we ask for IF we ask in faith AND if it is according to God’s will. In other words, it’s not a willy-nilly process of, “What do I want today, let me ask God for it.” We must be serious disciples who seek God’s will, which includes studying his Word and aligning ourselves with him. Then, let’s say we know that God wants the good news of Jesus to be heard in Argentina, so we pray that God will open a door, provide evangelists, and have the gospel preached there. It is going to happen! On the other hand, if we pay little attention to God’s Word, make no effort to understand his will, and simply pray that he will bless us financially, there is nothing about that to give us confidence God will respond as we’ve prayed.
We are talking about the Creator of the Universe, the Almighty, the God of the armies of heaven! We fail to recognize him as who he really is, with the respect, the fear needed, when we treat God as our personal assistant. He is not in the business of being our Genie, to grant our every wish. We live in a sin-filled world and he has a plan to save all who are willing to be saved, through Jesus Christ, as people turn to him in faith, which includes following in obedience. As we walk down that path, as we seek his will through studying what Jesus and his apostles taught, as we develop the characteristics of our Lord, as we pursue righteousness and extend our hands to help those in need, as we worship and remember his sacrifice in the Lord’s Supper, as we preach and teach the good news, that allows us to be aligned with God. When that happens, then we pray different kinds of prayers. Those prayers will be answered! Maybe not exactly as we think, but they will, as God hears and answers according to his will.
So, is God my personal assistant? Absolutely not! I bow before him in humble adoration. I look constantly to his Word, to the instructions of Jesus and his apostles, to the principles set in place by heroes of faith in Old Testament times. Job was confused by his circumstances, and God said, “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?” (In other words, you don’t have it all figured out). But as I align myself with his will, I can ask in faith, and he will grant me my request.
Cross Point: “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend on your passions…Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?” (James 4:3, 4)
For me to think that God is at my beckon call, that he is just waiting for my prayer with my request, and will jump to answer it to my satisfaction, is pretty crazy, don’t you think? And yet, as you surely must agree if you stop to think about it, that’s how many people treat the God of the Universe.
Why? Why would we do that? Well, there is some biblical precedent, although out of context I would contend. Such as Matthew 7:7 where Jesus says, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” Seems straight-forward, right? Just ask and God will give it to you, so isn’t that OK? In another place, Jesus says, “And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith” (Matt. 21:22). I’m asking, you may say, but I’m not receiving what I asked for.
There’s a biblical interpretation principle that says we must allow the Bible to interpret the Bible. What does that mean? It means that if one verse seems confusing, just doesn’t ring true, there may be another one on the same topic that helps clarify how to understand the first one. In this case, if we look at what the apostle John says in I John 5, we find these words, “And this is the confidence that we have toward God, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. If we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.”
This complements what we heard earlier from Jesus and helps explain how it works. We will be given what we ask for IF we ask in faith AND if it is according to God’s will. In other words, it’s not a willy-nilly process of, “What do I want today, let me ask God for it.” We must be serious disciples who seek God’s will, which includes studying his Word and aligning ourselves with him. Then, let’s say we know that God wants the good news of Jesus to be heard in Argentina, so we pray that God will open a door, provide evangelists, and have the gospel preached there. It is going to happen! On the other hand, if we pay little attention to God’s Word, make no effort to understand his will, and simply pray that he will bless us financially, there is nothing about that to give us confidence God will respond as we’ve prayed.
We are talking about the Creator of the Universe, the Almighty, the God of the armies of heaven! We fail to recognize him as who he really is, with the respect, the fear needed, when we treat God as our personal assistant. He is not in the business of being our Genie, to grant our every wish. We live in a sin-filled world and he has a plan to save all who are willing to be saved, through Jesus Christ, as people turn to him in faith, which includes following in obedience. As we walk down that path, as we seek his will through studying what Jesus and his apostles taught, as we develop the characteristics of our Lord, as we pursue righteousness and extend our hands to help those in need, as we worship and remember his sacrifice in the Lord’s Supper, as we preach and teach the good news, that allows us to be aligned with God. When that happens, then we pray different kinds of prayers. Those prayers will be answered! Maybe not exactly as we think, but they will, as God hears and answers according to his will.
So, is God my personal assistant? Absolutely not! I bow before him in humble adoration. I look constantly to his Word, to the instructions of Jesus and his apostles, to the principles set in place by heroes of faith in Old Testament times. Job was confused by his circumstances, and God said, “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?” (In other words, you don’t have it all figured out). But as I align myself with his will, I can ask in faith, and he will grant me my request.
Cross Point: “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend on your passions…Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?” (James 4:3, 4)
Posted in Cross Points