You Do Not Know What You Are Asking

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I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire!  (Luke 24:32)

You do not know what you are asking.

That’s what Jesus said.

He said, “You do not know what you are asking.”

He said it to the mother of His disciples James and John.

In Matthew 20, she comes up to Jesus with her sons, kneels down, and Jesus says, “What do you wish?”

What she wishes is that Jesus would make her sons his top officials when He becomes king.

But she clearly doesn’t understand the situation.  She doesn’t know what’s going on.

And I don’t, either.  Do you?

Do we really know what is going on?

I mean, do we know like God knows?  He REALLY knows what’s going on, and by comparison, what do we know?

We don’t.  His ways are far above our ways.  Like Mark Batterson said in his book, “The Circle Maker,” His ways are 15.5 billion light years above our ways.

So when we bring our feeble prayers to God, it is highly likely that we don’t know what we are asking.

I like what it says in James 4:3, we ask and do not receive because we “ask amiss.” 

Is that prayer a hit?  No, that’s “amiss,” ha ha ha.

So how can we pray and not ask amiss?  How can we pray with knowledge and wisdom, and pray according to God’s will?

One way is praying the Scriptures.  For example, I often pray “Show my Thy ways, O Lord, teach me Thy paths,” which is Psalms 25:4.

There are tons of Bible verses that can be converted straight into prayers.

Another way we can pray and not ask amiss is by praying in humility and surrender.

One example of this from my life is when I decided to get into Christian radio back in 1986.  I sent a letter to all the Christian radio stations in the state and prayed, in fact I basically begged God, “Please, just open one door, the exact door You want me to step through; because if I have to choose, I won’t know which one to choose or how to choose it.  Either I will base it on worldly standards and career opportunities, or I will do the opposite of that on purpose, and I don’t want to do either of those in my own wisdom.  God, I want Your perfect will, and I don’t know what that is, so please, just open one door.”  And, one door opened.

The point of that story was praying a prayer of humility and submission.  “Not my will, but Thy will be done.  God, I don’t know what is best.  I’m not that smart.  And Your ways are 15.5 billion light years above my ways, so I trust You.  I put my complete trust in You.  I’m the sheep, and You are The Good Shepherd.  I love You and want to follow You wherever You lead.”

In Jesus’ name I pray.

Amen.

May God bless you today.

I’m Doug Apple.