Be Careful What You Ask For

When my son was around 11 years old, he decided that he wanted to start drinking coffee. He asked and we said "no." He asked again. Again, the answer was "no." He started to plead his case and tell us that all of his friends were drinking coffee and he wanted to be like them.

We explained all of the reasons that he should not drink coffee at such a young age, and explained that it did not taste as great as he thought it would. He still begged, saying that he wanted to be like his friends.

Finally, my husband decided the best way to stop all of this was to let him see how bitter it really is. So he gave him a cup of black coffee. That was the end of it. We've never heard a request for coffee since then.

This morning, I was reading about the calling of Saul to be king in 1 Samuel Chapters 8-10. The people of Israel decided they wanted a King. They wanted to be "like all the other nations."

Samuel was distressed about this, and prayed. Gods answer? "Give them what they want. I have been their King, but they have rejected me. They don't want to be my people, they want to be like everybody else. So give them a King, but first warn them about what they are getting." (my paraphrase)

So Samuel explained to the people that a king needs an army and a staff, and that their own sons and daughters would be taken for this. He warned that the king would need to pay his people, so there would be taxes to accomplish this. He flat out told the people that they would become burdened by the taxes and cry out to God, but that God would not listen.

What did the people say?

"Good, now we will be like everybody else."(again, my paraphrase).

So God gave them their King, and all of the bitterness that came with it.

Their cup of coffee lasted a long time.

When you pray, do you insist that you know what you need? The purpose of prayer is not to get what we want, but to get the mind of God about a matter. (Like Samuel did when he was asked to find a King).

We might not understand God's perspective on the matter, but yeilding to it could save a lot of trouble. Sometimes it is better than getting what we ask for.