COSMIC VENDING MACHINE?

Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:9-10)

It is tempting to treat God like a vending machine when we pray. We put in our nickel (well, maybe today it’s a $5 bill!) and expect to automatically receive the answers we prayed for. We believe God can do it, and we even trust Him to do it. However, there are two major problems with this, based on the model prayer verses above.

Jesus taught His disciples how to pray based on what we have come to call the Lord’s Prayer. Really, it should be called the Believer’s Prayer, and it establishes a model framework for us when we pray. First and foremost, God is to be given the glory and honor due Him. We magnify His Name, acknowledge His glory and might, understanding He is sovereign. And then right next to that is the understanding that God’s will, His desires, plans and choices, will be done. Not mine. Not yours. His.

This means we submit to Him, and this is perhaps the hardest thing we do, after salvation. Maybe even harder. It means we aren’t in control, and what we want is not the issue. It’s what HE wants. Oh, this is so hard for us! We must remember, however, we are not submitting to a mean task master, but to a loving, powerful and sovereign God whose plans are bigger and better than ours.

We can always lay our burdens before Him and stretch out our “wants” and needs, but we also willingly acknowledge and know that it will be His will, His wants and desires, that will be done. And for true believers this is a good thing. A very good thing. When we lay everything before Him in prayer, truly trusting and submitting to Him and His will, we don’t have to worry any more! When we pray, and sincerely desire God’s will be done, there is no need for worry, REGARDLESS OF HOW HE ANSWERS.

Whenever you bring your needs and wants to God, be sure to bring praise and recognition of His sovereignty also. And a heart that truly desires His will first and foremost above all else. So the next time your prayers look like you put in your buck for a bottle of water and you got out a can of motor oil, be thankful, because God has answered in the best way. He knows things we don’t know. It may not seem like it in the moment, but His ways are greater than ours, and His will is ALWAYS the best. Eagerly seek His will rather than your wants. It is a beautiful place to rest.