Today I received a couple of similar prayer requests, one by phone and one by e-mail. Each person had lost something. Each person began the request in the same manner. They said the request might seem silly and trivial, as many serious requests that we receive to pray for every day. I told them no, our requests aren't silly to God. If it concerns us, it concerns Him.
These writings usually go out on Sunday and for no particular reason today, I have been waiting about sending this one. As the second request came in from someone who had a desire to find something lost, I knew why I had put off writing.
I already had this devotional and title in mind, but with these requests, I began to look at this devotional in a different way somewhat. It may seem like a bit of a conglomeration of two separate ideas, but God works like that sometimes.
Psalm 37:4
Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you your heart's desires.
Desires
Yesterday in the children's class that
I taught we studied David and Bathsheba. We learned David loved and desired to have another man's wife. We learned that desire came to pass, even though it was a sin. David didn't follow God's will when he desired to have Bathsheba. He didn't follow God's will when he sinned.
David repented and received God's forgiveness after the prophet Nahum revealed to him just how wrong it had been of him to go after his desire that was not God's desire for him.
The Bible tells us that David was a man after God's own heart. God blessed David over and over with His love, protection, and favor. I wondered why did God allow this blemish on David's life. I asked myself did God love David so much that He gave him whatever he desired, even if it was something he was not supposed to have. I immediately thought, certainly not, God wouldn't do that.
I thought of my own life, my own wants, and desires, things that I have prayed for in the past that I perhaps should never have prayed for. When I was a child I can remember wishing for things. I can remember adults in my life telling me at times, "Be careful you might get what you wish for." And that was exactly what happened many, many times. God did allow a lot of things I desired to come to pass, but they came to pass with circumstances and consequences that were not at all what I had wished for. There were many scars left on my life from my not following God's perfect plan, His will, His desire for my life.
I have lived and learned a little. Today when I pray, I pray prayers that I pray will truly accomplish God's will for my life. I examine my desires and ask myself will God's desire for my life come to be through this desire of mine. God does allow us some desires that we don't really need at times. It is for a purpose. There are many lessons learned when we don't follow God's will for our lives.
I think God allowed David to have access to his desire, but David is the one who chose to sin. God knew what would come to pass. God knew David would have to realize his sin and ask for forgiveness. God knew the consequences that would come from David having this sinful desire which came to be a reality.
Sin brings death.
James 1:15
Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
As you pray for desires to come to pass make sure your desires are God's desires
Now, how do lost cell phones tie into all this? It doesn't really, other than realizing God does grant our desires, small or large, and even some that we should not desire at all.
If you have lost something, no matter how small, pray. God will hear you. God will answer. He has helped me find my car keys and cell phone more times than I can count. I guess He knows in order to do what I try to do for Him, it help's if I have a way to get where I am going and a way to communicate with those who are where I am going to. With wars raging, and people literally dying of disease and starvation, it may seem very trivial to pray for car keys and cell phones, but we serve a big God who answers prayers of all sizes.
Remember we are His children and He loves us like we love our children. If you have a child who is desperately ill and another who is healthy and strong, you still will bend down and tie the healthy child's shoe or take him to McDonald's for a happy meal. You love all your children the same, the one who has a great need and the one who has a small need. God loves us like that.