Competition
Dear Lord, today I pray for strength, today I pray for patience. Grant me the heart of humility to serve others.
That’s the prayer that I say every day, and yet I have failed to pray for the one most important thing in my life. I have failed to pray for the one thing that I have been made for. If you are like me, you would pray daily for a plan in your life that you want so much, or something in your life that you want to work out. My unemployment and having lost many thing in my life that I think I need, I developed a bad habit of praying for the things in my life. How futile is that?! Jesus promised:-
“And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.” Luke 12:29-31
In that light, my prayers for the necessities of my life are redundant. Yes the Lord is pleased when we come to Him with supplication, but is it not more pleasing when we come to Him to build our relationship with Him?
Our life is filled with errands, work, and other relationships that take up our time. Groceries to buy, on a budget that is left after paying the bills, debts and mortgages, deadlines at work to meet and people to meet up with and chat. That’s all good in a day’s work, but what is a day without time with God? Funny how our lives roll downhill when we neglect our relationship with God. Oswold Chambers in My Utmost for His highest writes that whenever there is competition, be sure that you put your relationship to God first, and when we do, all that we need will be given unto us (January 27).
We read of missionaries and prophets who travel and spread the word of God, who have a zealous and passionate relationships with God, and throughout their life, God has never failed to provide for them. I find it hilarious that I keep praying for my necessities, when God has already promised from our genesis that He will provide.
Chambers has challenged me, has pointed to the sore point in my life. He has challenged me to love God, to be head over heels for my God. Everyone has fallen in love at one point in their life. How desirable it is to quiver at the touch of God, to count down the hours to the next meeting with God, to smile at each thought of Him, to know Him so well that one could be confident in His character. The one thing that God can give that no other lover can is His faithfulness. He is the unchanging strong tower that will always be there.
