Monday, March 2, 2020
694 - Chef's Surprise
Spirituality Column #694
March 3, 2020
Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary
Chef’s Surprise
By Bob Walters
"If you want God
to give you specific results, you have to pray for specific things.” – radio
preacher a couple weeks ago.
Deja vu. That line
was the theme-setting jump-in for last week’s column What I Really Really
Want (2-25-2020): what we pray for vs. what results we should expect.
My reaction to that line, and it’s what I wrote, was that
trusting God, I pray in Jesus’s name through the Holy Spirit for relationship
more than results. We can ask for
whatever we want, but the ultimate goal, I think, is not worldly comfort but
that by our faith in Jesus, loving God, and loving others – in relationship –
we contribute to and participate in God’s glory. That’s our salvation. That’s our ticket to heaven.
Granted, it is also a pretty general and specifics-free
approach to prayer. My church friend
Dave Deane sent me a quick note about that column, citing our late, wonderful minister
Russ Blowers. “As Russ once told me,”
Dave wrote, “’you don’t go into a restaurant and ask for food; you need to be
specific.’”
Aha! A great line I’d
heard before and oh, if I’d just thought of it last week. It would have fit right into that piece. A gifted storyteller, Russ had a knack for
squeezing a lot of thought in to a few, memorable words. And I might add that when he prayed you had
no doubt God was listening. Russ was that
kind of pastor, and a great friend.
Anyhow Russ, who passed in 2007, was right. Whether in confession, questions, or
requests, our prayerful details and specifics are critical. But those specifics are critical for our
sake, not God’s. God already knows; we need to examine ourselves.
It’s our sinning but caring selves who benefit in prayer by
carefully thinking through the particulars of our faith, life, and concerns. We can moan and God can murmur. Sometimes – oftentimes – the exactitude of
what we’re praying about is bigger or more mysterious than we can comprehend. If we show up at the restaurant, take a seat
and ask for food, we miss the relational experience and spiritual growth of
considering all that is on that big, divine menu, and what’s going on back in
the kitchen.
But don’t miss this, either.
Whether in the plainest or fanciest restaurant, unless you’re already
acquainted, the chef will have no idea who you are, what you like, what you
need, how hungry you are, if you can pay the bill, if you’re allergic to
shellfish, or can stomach kale. It’s only about your order, not Godly
nourishment and relationship.
In response to prayer, I believe God feeds us in His will
and time. In God’s restaurant the
chef – He’s the chef – already knows us but delights in having us talk
to Him, building our faith, trust, and relationship. As we grow to know Him, we learn to
understand how He puts
His menu together and shows us how to order our
thoughts, love, and priorities, not just how to order a meal. He’s the chef who already knows.
God knows the plans He has for us (Jeremiah 29:11). Jesus personally assures us in nearly a dozen
places to ask – in faith – for whatever we want (Matthew 18:19, 21:22, Mark
11:24, John 15:7, et al), and it will be done even when it’s a chef’s surprise.
Our peace is in knowing – in trusting – that the chef always
sends out His best.
Walters (rlwcom@aol.com)
prefers spiritual nourishment over kale and shellfish.
PS - Last week's column is just below ... scroll down ...
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