NorthStar Community Daily Devotional

January 30

Scripture focus: Please, God, no more yelling, no more trips to the woodshed. Treat me nice for a change; I'm so starved for affection. Can't you see I'm black-and-blue, beat up badly in bones and soul? God, how long will it take for you to let up? Break in, GOD, and break up this fight; if you love me at all, get me out of here. I'm no good to you dead, am I? I can't sing in your choir if I'm buried in some tomb! I'm tired of all this—so tired. My bed has been floating forty days and nights on the flood of my tears. My mattress is soaked, soggy with tears. The sockets of my eyes are black holes; nearly blind, I squint and grope. Get out of here, you Devil's crew: at last God has heard my sobs. My requests have all been granted, my prayers are answered. Cowards, my enemies disappear. Disgraced, they turn tail and run. Psalm 6

Someone once told me that the only way I can pray effectively is when I pray in accordance with God’s will. They used the following verse to support this instruction.

“This is the assurance that we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of him.” 1 John 5:14-15
Of course, this makes perfect sense.

Maybe I’m wrong, but I experience prayer as, well, less limiting than this instruction to only pray in accordance with God’s will. Frankly, if I’ve got to be sure that I’m praying “correctly,” I end up standing mute before the throne of grace. I am perfectly okay with God responding within the limits of his divine prevailing purposes and will. I know there’s a lot going on in the kingdom of God, and I’m not the point.

But as a parent, I don’t want my kids to only come to me conversation that they think will win my maternal stamp of approval. I don’t want my babies editing their stories in a foolish attempt to win my approval – they already have my heart. I want my kids to tell me the truth – even the messy stuff. Maybe I need to grow up more in order to change my view on this, but for now, I believe that God loves it when we talk to him. I don’t think he freaks out when we don’t quite get our story “straight.”

Tell God the truth as we understand it, and let’s see what happens. Maybe we’ll get a renewed view. Maybe God will grow our heart. Who knows what God will do?

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