I know we are taught to ‘ask and you will receive’ and I believe we should come boldly before the throne room of God with our requests. There are many scriptures on prayer, such things as ‘asking & receiving’, ‘believing we shall receive what we ask for’ and many others.  While I don’t discount any of the Word of God by any means, I do believe we need to be more sensitive to God’s timing and ultimate desire on issues in our lives that we think are about us. Many times we get stuck on our own ‘time schedule’ and our own ‘needs’ when coming to God in prayer, not realizing there is oft times a much bigger picture and issue in play. We may just be a tiny part of what the Lord is looking to accomplish on a larger scale or in a smaller scale matter.

I’m reminded of the story of Joseph after being sold into slavery by his brothers. I’m sure he prayed often for the Lord to deliver him but he never was until the right time-the time God had ordained so it would be to the fruition of the entire nation. My point being, we need to sensitive to what the Lord’s plans are and to what he is doing. Many times the Lord will allow us to go through certain things, yes to benefit us spiritually (Jas 1:2-3, 12; 1 Pet 1:6-7) but also because it may be to benefit someone else. Sometimes it’s in the little things. Maybe we missed the stop light so we could be saved from an accident. Maybe our car broke down so we have opportunity to share our faith with the local mechanic.  Maybe we are receiving a new job offer because there are still people in our current place of employment who need to hear the Gospel of Jesus.  Maybe we are still stuck in an undersized home, not because God doesn’t want to bless us with more but rather because of the people in our neighborhood which need to be evangelized for Christ. Maybe we forgot our money at the grocer when going to pay, not because it’s an inconvenience but so that next time, we will be more inclined to buy someone else’s groceries who is in the same situation.

Maybe just maybe…

It’s not all about us.