In the movie, "Toy Story," Buzz Lightyear thinks he really is supposed to save the universe. But as Woody points out to him, "You're a toy!"
When Buzz realizes that is what he is and he can't even save himself much less the universe, he becomes very depressed. But later he understands that his purpose as a toy is to make the boy who owns him happy.
We are like Buzz Lightyear. We think we can save ourselves. We think we know who we are and what we are supposed to be doing. The truth is, just like Buzz, we are deceiving ourselves.
Most of us don't see miracles every day. I mean real biblical parting-of-the-Red-Sea miracles. So we tend to become skeptical. We brush off emotionalism and the miraculous and rely on the things we can accomplish. But God doesn't work that way.
We pray for miracles all the time. We pray for someone to make it through surgery or to have a safe trip and, when those prayers are answered, we don't think about it anymore. That's a sad commentary on our attitude towards prayer. But sadder still is the assumption that God should answer any of our prayers.
What is God Looking For?
What God is looking for when we pray, is our faith and trust. You see, when God says no to a prayer request it is not to be mean or necessarily to punish us. God is looking for our response when we don't get what we want. He wants us to say, "Thy will be done."
Jesus did not want to go to the cross, but He said, "Your will be done." Daniel did not want to go to the lion's den, but he said, "Your will be done." Paul did not want the thorn in his flesh, but he said, "Your will be done."
What do you have in your life that you do not want, or what would you like to have even though God keeps telling you, "No"? You have heard the old cliche, "God answers prayer with yes, no, or later." I believe that is faulty theology. I believe He answers all prayer the same way: "Trust me."
Do you trust God?
It is one thing to claim you have faith and talk about what it means, but it is another thing altogether to actually live your faith. How about your faith today? It is easy to have faith when everything is going along well. When you have a good job, nice home, wonderful kids, and plenty of friends.
But what happens when your world is turned upside down? What happens when everything goes wrong? When the brakes go out on your car again, when your kids are in trouble at school, again. When you find your marriage to be sour. When your job is a dead-end. When you no longer know who your friends are?
God never promised us a good life. If anything, He promised just the opposite. And He is under no obligation to grant our every wish. So what happens when things don't work out the way we want them to?
What Are We Looking For?
Think about your prayer life. What do you pray for? Most people pray for what they want. We pray for the sick, we pray for those who are in need, we pray for God to help us in various circumstances. Now, this is ok because God wants us to tell Him our needs. But sometimes I am afraid we pray for everything we want and not for what God wants.
We may say, "your will be done," but it is more of a "spiritual closing" than what we actually want. Our prayers become our wish lists and God is our Santa Claus, granting us what we want. That attitude misses the whole point.
In the fall of 1984, a judge decided that the two foster girls in our home should go back to their biological parents at the end of the school year. Every day from then until June, 1985 I prayed for God to reverse that decision. But He did not. I took long walks and argued with God. I chopped a tree in my yard into a million pieces but it did not change God's mind.
It wasn't until I finally submitted to Him that I found peace in my life. He told me no for a reason. He wanted me to trust Him. The reason the girls went back: four months later they were removed again from their home, along with their two younger sisters, and we were able to adopt all four!
The story doesn't end there, however. The last several years have been extremely hard on us. We have had so much trouble with one of our now teenage daughters. Not normal adolescent problems, but fits of uncontrollable rage, physical violence, and danger to herself and others. It has been a nightmare. Every day I have prayed for her to get better, yet she doesn't seem to be. If anything, it seems that she has pulled even further away. This doesn't make sense. Why would God allow this after all we went through to adopt her in the first place?
I don't know God's will in this matter. It doesn't make sense. I don't know how everything is going to turn out. But I have learned that that is the least of God's concerns. What He wants is to see if I trust Him, if I have faith in Him, and if I will submit to Him.
Civilla Martin wrote:
Think about the obstacles in your life. Think about the disappointments, the heartaches, the missed opportunities. Think about the joys, the triumphs, the great moments. And then realize that, through the good and bad, God is there and wants us to submit to Him in faith and trust. He is waiting for us to say, "Thy will be done."
This article was orginally printed in the "Christian Standard," August 10, 1997.
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