"Asking for What Lies on Our Hearts"
Aug. 6, 2019
After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: "Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great." But Abram said, "O Lord GOD, what will You give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?" And Abram said, "Behold, You have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir." And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: "This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir." And He brought him outside and said, "Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them." Then He said to him, "So shall your offspring be." And he believed the Lord, and He counted it to him as righteousness.
~ Genesis 15:1-6 (ESV)
God comes to Abram and says to him, "Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great." But Abram is not happy; he says, "O Lord God, what will You give me, for I continue childless? ... a member of my household will be my heir."
Abram, later called Abraham, had good reason to question. No matter what wonderful blessings God promised Abram, in Abram's mind, none of them would matter if he couldn't pass them on—if he had no child—if his family was wiped out in the next generation. Then where would all these blessings be? This is very much on Abram's mind, because he is over 75 and his wife Sarai has already gone through menopause. So the minute God mentions blessings, Abram's mind goes straight to the one thing that is missing: a baby.
Notice that Abram is not shy about complaining to God. He comes right out and says it: "What will You give me, under these circumstances?" He goes straight to the point, without worrying about offending God or looking whiny or pathetic.
And God blesses that. He does not yell at him for his honesty. Instead, He looks at the problem, agrees that it is a problem, and promises to deal with it. In fact, it will take Him about 20 more years to carry out His promise—but Abram doesn't know that. All he knows is that God has given him a promise, and God's promises are sure. And so he relaxes. He trusts in God. And God considers this to be good, to be right, to be righteous.
This is what we need to do when we have problems that weigh on our hearts and minds. It's no good praying about a thousand different things if we stay silent about the one concern that is closest to our heart—even if that concern seems silly or selfish or too trivial to bother God with. God knows our hearts anyway. He sees that we are preoccupied. And so the best thing we can do is to take that thing that is bothering us and confess it honestly to God, asking for His help.
He will not mock us or turn His heart away from us. How could He, when He is the one Person who loved us so much that He lay down His own life for our sake, to save us and make us His own? Our problems matter to Him, because we are His beloved. And the Lord who died and rose again for our sake will not ignore or reject us in our needs, even if they seem mundane or unworthy to us. We can go to Him like a dearly loved child to a father, trusting our Father to hear us. Whether He says "yes" or "no" or even "not yet," He will hear us, and He will care for us. We matter to Him.
THE PRAYER: Dear Father, help me with the needs and problems that preoccupy me. Help me to trust You with all of my needs, however small. Amen.
Reflection Questions:
Do you think God listens to every one of your prayers?
What do you think it means that Abram's believing in God was counted to him as "righteousness"?
How open and forthright are your conversations with God?
This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Kari Vo. Use these devotions in your newsletter and bulletin! Used by permission; all rights reserved by the Int'l LLL (LHM).
Do you think God listens to every one of your prayers?
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