Good Gifts

Occasionally a sermon is so good that it smacks you right in the fact.

Such was the sermon at my church a couple of weeks ago on prayer, using the text of Psalm 27.  The psalm, written by David, is divided into two sections.  The first, verses 1-6, is a backward looking song of testimony, where David is remembering what God has done in his life.  The second, versus 7-14, is a song of requesting help ("Panic", as our pastor put it).

The key to the Psalm was found in verses 4 and 8.

Verse 4:

"One thing I have asked of the LORD,
that I will see after:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to behold the beauty of the LORD,
and to inquire in His temple."

Verse 8:   

" Thou has said 'Seek ye my face.'
My heart says to Thee,
'Thy face, LORD, do I seek."

The key to all of this is found in the phrase "The beauty of LORD" - the Hebrew for "beauty" not being that of  "attractive" but rather of "favor, the kindheartedness of God, the good intentions of God", "friendliness".   Thus, we seek the Lord not for his appearance, but for His favor, his kindness (not as if that has not come recently), His good intentions.

The rub?  We need to do this first, before we start making our list of prayer requests.

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Many - and by many, I include myself here - treat God as a sort of vending machine, a genie as it were:   we lob our asks into the air, pray fervently, and then wait, hoping that God comes through exactly as we have asked.  And then, of course, we come to worship those things that God has granted us, rather than the God who gave them to us.

If we do not get those things we pray for, we come to mistrust God.  I mean, sure, I can ask for some selfish things - we all do, do we not? - but things like health and intact families and rewarding careers and meaningful relationships, those are all good things, right?  If God does not answer prayers, how is He even really interested in "good" things?

That is not prayer at all.  As said by my pastor, Prayer is entrusting ourselves to God, not praying to have Him do our will.  

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We get the process and order reversed.  As said by my pastor, Prayer is entrusting ourselves to God, not praying to have Him do our will.   And we entrust ourselves to God by first seeking Him, and then asking about our things.

Here is the funny thing:  David recognizes that God is good, that God has all those things - favor, kindheartedness, good intentions, even friendliness - towards us. It just may be that we do not recognize them as such because we are looking for the other things, the things we want.

The challenge from our pastor for a week was to start our morning prayer with these words:  "Father, help me to see the good gifts You have for me."  And then, after we have seen those good gifts, to ask about other things.

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One of the things that I am coming to understand as I get older is that a great many of the things we ask for - even if they are good things - never come to pass in our lives, at least not to the degree we desire.  As I think through the requests of myself and my close friends, over the years we have asked for strong marriages, intact and close families, rewarding careers that used our talents and were engaging, perhaps living in a particular location and in a particular manner.  Of maybe being truly serviceable or reaching fame via the arts or writing, of making a significant impact.

I do not wonder if - looking back at least for myself - that had these things come to pass, I would have worshipped them and myself as the person who brought them to pass.

Instead, God has given us - and me - other things.  Maybe things that are not those things, but things that are truly good and are in His will for our lives.  Things that hopefully advance the Kingdom, even though we do not always see it as such.

It has been revelatory to ask, every morning, "Father, help me to see the good gifts You have for me", and then see what actually comes to mind.