VENDING MACHINE
I thought about kicking it. I tried to shake the heavy machine. I started to get angry at that machine. I had been at the hospital with my dad and I just wanted that bag of Cheetos to get me by till I could leave and go home. I don’t try to get something out of a vending machine very often. How many times have you tried to get something out of a vending machine and it gets stuck? It can’t give you your money back. Sometimes, it won’t work no matter what we do.
Sometimes we think of God as that vending machine. Always ready to give us what we want. Always there when we think we need something. But when God supposedly does not give us that want, that we pray for, we get angry at Him. We ask why is God not listening to me. Does He not care? Then we realize that, just like that vending machine that we have not been to in a while, we have not gone to God in prayer for a while. Shouldn’t He be happy that we are finally praying to Him and He will give us what we want?
Well, God does not work like that. He does not give us what we think we want sometimes. Philippians 4:19 tells us “And my God shall supply all your needaccording to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Did you notice that word need?Whatever we have prayed for, may not be the best for our future. C.S. Lewis says “Whether we like it or not, God intends to give us what we need, not what we now think we want.” Garth Brooks has a song called “Unanswered Prayers.” Some of the words are: “Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers, remember when you’re talkin’ to the man upstairs, that just because he doesn’t answer doesn’t mean he don’t care, some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers.” Unanswered prayers are a gift for our future.
God knows what our future will be. He loves us and wants the best for us. ‘We pray for what we see as the best possible option in the moment, but the reality is that our vision is limited to what we know today and so often there is so much more that we couldn’t possibly know yet still out there. We simply don’t have all the information to be able to see that there is a much bigger and better option for us and we just don’t see it yet. And when that is the case, God withholds giving us what we asked for so that He will be able to give us that bigger and better option He wants us to have.’ (taken from an article by Amy Rees Anderson)
When we were going to lose our home to foreclosure, I spent a lot of time on my knees praying for God to not let that happen. But we ended up losing our home after all. I could not understand why, after praying so hard, that God did not answer that prayer! A few years later, when my husband had trouble walking without losing his breath, I realized that God had answered that prayer. It was a raised ranch and had thirteen steps to get into and out of the house. After he passed away, I would have had the burden and stress of trying to sell that house. The house had a lot of things that needed fixed. I did not have much money at the time, even though I was working two to three jobs. We would have had trouble selling that home. Our boys had their own lives and it would mean a lot of sacrifice on their part to do the labor to fix what they could. God answered those tearful prayers, just not in the way I wanted! But in the best way that I needed them answered!
When hard times come, and they will, God assures us He is right by our side helping us and working for us, whether we see it or not. This is beyond our understanding. Philippians 4:6-7 reads “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Our part of God’s plan is to pray with thanksgiving and tell God what is in your heart. God’s part is to answer, according to His purpose for our lives and what is best for us. We can’t, in our human minds, understand why that answer is no and we can’t understand how praying to God can give us peace in that answer.
Did I really need those Cheetos that day? No, of course not, they are not good for me. I just wanted them anyway. Did getting upset at that vending machine help the situation? Of course not. If I would have kicked it, I would have hurt my toe. If I would have tried to shake the heavy machine, I would have hurt my back. How important were those Cheetos really? Were they a need or a want?
Now, I don’t want you, when you finish reading this blog, to think I am comparing a vending machine to God! Of course not! But what I am trying to say is-just because we want something that looks good to us in this life, it does not mean that we really need it. God only gives us what is the best for our lives-what is according to the plans He has for our purpose-for what we need to serve Him-what will help another. Jeremiah 29:11-14 reads “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to me and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you says the Lord…”
Pray with all your heart. Talk to God about what is troubling you. Ask God to help you through a tough time. Talk to God when you think a want you have is a need. Go to Him at any time, any place, any situation and trust in the fact that whatever the answer is, that God is for us and not against us.
Vending machine. Who would have thought, that day I thought I needed those Cheetos in that big vending machine, that I would think of an application for our everyday lives! (My mind works in strange ways sometimes!)
When you ask God for something, try to think, is it a need or a want and then trust in His answer!
Till next time!
Keela