Eliminating Unrealistic Expectations
[每日靈修] 1/10/2018, 没譯
Sometimes
we all feel as if our prayers lack the power to penetrate our ceilings. It
seems as though our petitions fall on deaf ears and God remains unmoved or
unconcerned about our passionate pleading. Why do these feelings haunt us?
There
are several reasons why we are sometimes frustrated in prayer. One is that our
expectations are unrealistic. This, perhaps more than any other factor, leads
to a frustration in prayer. We make the common mistake of taking statements of
Jesus in isolation from other biblical aspects of teaching in prayer, and we
blow these few statements out of proportion.
We
hear Jesus say that if two Christians agree on anything and ask, it shall be
given to them. Jesus made that statement to men who had been deeply trained in
the art of prayer, men who already knew the qualifications of this generalization.
Yet in a simplistic way we interpret the statement absolutely. We assume the
promise covers every conceivable petition without reservation or qualification.
Think of it. Would it be difficult to find two Christians who would agree that
to end all wars and human conflict would be a good idea? Obviously not. Yet if
two Christians agreed to pray for the cessation of war and conflict, would God
grant their petition? Not unless He planned to revise the New Testament and its
teaching about the future of human conflict.
Prayer
is not magic. God is not a celestial bellhop at our beck and call to satisfy
our every whim. In some cases, our prayers must involve the travail of the soul
and agony of heart, such as Jesus experienced in the Garden of Gethsemane. Sometimes
young Christians have been bitterly disappointed in “unanswered” prayers, not
because God failed to keep His promises, but because well-meaning Christians
made promises “for” God that God never authorized.
Coram
Deo
Do
you have unrealistic expectations that account for seemingly unanswered
prayers? Are you treating God like a celestial bellhop?
Passages
for Further Study
Psalm
102:17-18
Psalm
141:2