Cracker Jack

5.4.2011

Matthew 21:22 22 If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” NIV

Many people – myself included – have stumbled over these words by our Lord thinking He wasn’t giving us a blank check; He wasn’t. Prayer isn’t like getting a prize in a box of Cracker Jack*; but a lot of people see it that way: we pray in order to get God to give us something.

In 2 Samuel 8.6, we’re told that [God] gave David victory wherever he went. God also gave David wealth, power, lands, peoples, success, and great popularity. He had armies, advisors, and enormous adoration from his people. But getting all that wasn’t always all the best. David harbored a thirst for more, and his success fueled his thirst. With many wives and many children, he took Bathsheba illegally. With advisors out the kazoo, his sons were around him and as a bunch of spoiled rich kids, secretly criticized him and ultimately sought to overthrow him – Absalom. David conducted an unauthorized census of his people because in him it seems were the seeds of Empire-ism – something the Lord never gave David nor gave him permission to do.

So, what would it gain us if God gave us whatever we believed for in prayer? The prayer requests of many are, Lord save me from this, or heal me from that. The prayer requests of many are for stuff, wealth, health, and success. What would it do to us if we got all we wanted but lacked humility and grace? Where would we be if our answered prayers fostered pride, arrogance, and a false sense of security in a world where there are many who will vie or die trying to fill the void left by Usama Bin Laden?

But what if, by praying and believing, we received more of God – in the sense that we recognize Him, and walk in fellowship with Him? (We don’t actually get more of God – we get more capacity to worship, appreciate, cooperate, and depend upon Him…). But what if in praying, we said, Father, today may all that happens to me draw me closer to Your heart and better equip me to pray, to witness, and to testify more effectively to Your goodness and love toward mankind?

Jesus wasn’t offering us blank checks – He was trying to help us see that we will indeed accomplish God’s will if we’ll pray according to it and quit thinking only of ourselves… prayer is way more than 'candy-coated popcorn, peanuts, and a prize!'


*Cracker Jack is a U.S. brand of snack consisting of caramel-coated popcorn and peanuts, well known for being packaged with a prize of nominal value inside. (Wikipedia)