Withholding

Lyle wanted prayer a few weeks ago because "God's not answering my prayers. Things aren't going so good for me."

Lyle reported that he prayed every morning and had even tried fasting one day last week. But he still couldn't get all his bills paid and his girlfriend was having problems with her ex-husband. "I been wondering what God has against me, you know? I'm trying but He's not doing what I need."

After God created time, one of his first gifts was lush provision. "Out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food..." (Gen 2:9) Yet Adam and Eve shortly were convinced by a serpent that God withheld from them.

What do we make of Lyle's problem, which is so common today? Does God withheld?

J.B. Phillips, in his marvelous classic Your God is too Small, comments:

God will inevitably appear to disappoint the man who is attempting to use Him as a convenience, a prop, or a comfort, for his own plans. God has never been known to disappoint the man who is sincerely wanting to co-operate with His own purposes.

The next time I talk to Lyle, I hope to point him to God's awesome power and wisdom. Blaming God when our prayers fall flat leads nowhere except to show we don't know him very well.

You can't worship a Disappointment.