Waiting.
And
more waiting.
God sent a devotion through Marilyn Meberg in which she quoted the lovely words of FrederickBuechner, “A good sleep is grace and so are good dreams. Most tears are grace.
The smell of rain is grace and somebody loving you is grace.”
She
concluded her article with these verses from Matthew 7:11, “And if you
hardhearted, sinful men know how to give good gifts to your children, won’t
your Father in heaven even more certainly give good gifts to those who ask him
for them?”
I
closed the devotion, and the phrase, “…good gifts to those who ask…” lingered
in my head as I opened the fifth lesson in With Christ in the School of Prayer.
The
title?
“Ask,
and it shall be given you.”
The
scripture verse?
The
same one I’d just read, Matthew 7:11.
But
I thought I had asked.
God’s
good gifts do await those who ask. Sometimes, the answer seems delayed, but God is
in the process as well, refining our asking. I’ve often had the situation of
crying out to God in prayer, and for example, I’m asking “What color is it? I
need to know what color.” I receive the answer from God, and he says, “Jell-o.”
I know I’ve heard from him, but I have no idea what he means. I think that sometimes
he’s answering a question he’s still refining in me. But at some point in the
future, I have an a-ha moment and realize how he’s been leading.
Murray
writes near the end of the fifth lesson about praying in faith. “Let us not
make the feeble experiences of our unbelief the measure of what our faith may
expect. Let us seek, not only just in our seasons of prayer, but at all times,
to hold fast the joyful assurance; man’s prayer on earth and God’s answer in
heaven are meant for each other. “
God
longs to give us those gifts of grace to which Buechner refers: things like
good sleep, and good dreams, and tears, and the smell of rain, and love. And
more besides.
His
good gifts.
Simply
ask.