“You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. (Mark 10:38)
Several years ago, I applied for a job that would allow me to use my gifts and passions to a fuller extent than the job I had at that time. I prayed before even taking the risk of applying, so when I was invited to go for an interview, I was certain the Lord was in the process of granting a long-standing desire of my heart. A few weeks later, I received the news that they had chosen someone else to fill the position.
About a year later, I learned that the job I’d craved had been eliminated in a company downsizing. I knew if the job had been offered to me, I would have taken it, and in just a few months’ time, I would have been in a city far from home with no job and most likely, no support system.
Sometimes when we ask things of the Lord, we really don’t know what we’re asking. It all makes sense in our minds, and perhaps we really do have the purest motives in making our requests. But sometimes God has to say words that are difficult to hear: You don’t know what you are asking. It’s hard to trust when we can’t see the big picture, but he does see it, and sometimes that means he must say no, all for our own good.
Find comfort: We may not know what we ask, but God does.
Bekah Shaffer is an alumna of Indiana Wesleyan University and enjoys endless coffee, scrapbooking, and adventuring with her husband, Ryan.
© 2020 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
