Whatever; Concluding Thoughts
Part of our growing relationship with the LORD God—Father, Son, and Spirit—is expressed in prayer. Prayer itself is our relating to God. It can be as simple as speaking. It can be as scripted as the formal liturgies passed down by the church through the centuries.
Just as we talk to our friends, our bosses, strangers—we interact with, we related with, these people through speaking—so we related to, interact with, God in prayer.
And prayer is something that we are, at times, confused by.
Just as we might be confused after a conversation with a friend, so we might be confused by our interactions with God. This is not to say anything about our friend, only that they are a different person than we are, and we can’t read their mind, and they communicate through words, and we don’t always know whether we understand them or they understand us or what! So to say that we are sometimes confused by our interaction with God is really only to say that He is very, very, different than we are. This is not a surprise. Nonetheless it is a challenge.
It is an area for growth.
And nothing is as confusing or challenging as the “Ask Whatever!”-passages in the Bible (which seem to be mostly gathered in the Apostle John’s writings [7 out of 9!]).
For many of us, these verses have been an obstacle in our communication with God. Hopefully this series of reflections has helped:
Whatever, part 1
Whatever, part 2
Whatever, part 3
Whatever, part 4
Here’s a summary of these reflections:
1. Pray “whatever” is on your heart and mind, without fear or inhibitions.
What we are is known to God and He’d rather we talk to Him about it than the barkeep, the hairdresser, or ChatGPT. When the Bible says, “whatever you ask,” it always at least means, “Permission to speak freely, granted!”
2. Don’t be a selfish spaz about the “whatever” verses.
Jesus says, “God won’t give you a scorpion if you ask for bread.” Well, God also won’t give you a scorpion if you ask for a scorpion. He’s not like, “Well okay if you really want something that’ll ruin your life, I guess I have to give it to you.”
3. And also, don’t be a spiritual-pout, like I described that I have been (sometimes still am).
Like, because God didn’t do the thing I wanted when I wanted it, then why should I ever pray? Like, if He’s not a genii-in-a-bottle, then what good is He?
That’s like saying that since the Grand Canyon isn’t Bed-Bath-and-Beyond, why would I ever go there. It’s an incomprehensibly massive category confusion.
A relationship with the Eternally glorious God who made me and gave Himself for me is a self-evident Good, and deserving of whatever growth and discipline is necessary to enjoy it more.
4. And lastly “Ask Whatever!” means, please go ahead and pray wild-and-crazy prayers.
Pray them, reshape them, discuss them with the Lord, hold onto them... and hang on!
Steadfastness in prayer is everywhere praised in Scripture. Why? Because God wants us watching when He works to answer our prayers.
And Yes there will be lots of No along the way. But only so that He might give us the bigger, truer Yes of our hearts as He draws us into the bigger, truer Yes of His own heart for us.
The Disciples asked Jesus, Lord, teach us to pray. And He did.
Yet I think the Twelve Disciples would agree with me when I say, it took years for those lessons to become clear.
But they’d also say that Jesus was exactly truthful and right in everything He taught them about prayer. In ways they never anticipate, and not always in their lifetimes, God answered their prayers.
And the apostle John—longest living of the twelve, with the perspective of many decades—affirmed this the most, that God hears and answers prayers in astonishing ways.
And I think that the apostles would also all agree that, frankly, the journey of prayer, with Jesus, was a ton of fun. It was joy to walk with the Lord, keep in step with the Spirit, enjoying the open conversation of heartfelt prayer with the One who knows us and loves us best, who is all-powerful and wise and good. It was joy.
Did they need to grow? Yes. Did prayer always “work”? Yes. Was it always pleasant? No. Was it often frustrating? Yes. Did they and their loved ones suffer persecution, aging, sorrows, and then still die in the end? Yes.
Was the whole thing—this prayer-full, God-filled, life—awesome and absolutely worth it?
What do you think they’d say?*
Prayer
Lord God, You have made known to us the Path of Life. In Your presence there is fullness of Joy, and at Your Right Hand there are pleasures that will endure forever. One thing we ask and we will seek—to dwell in Your House and gaze upon Your beauty and talk to You. But we confess: there is a gap. We do not yet know You as we are known by You.
So draw us closer to Yourself. Let us learn to trust Your Heart. Let the words of our mouths, the meditations of our hearts, come to You. And let Your favor be upon us. Set aside our empty, self-involved, requests—we want no more scorpions than necessary! Give us the good You promise.
Spirit, pray with us and be our light. Jesus, pray for us and teach us to pray. Father, this is great. Thank You. In Jesus’ Name, amen.
*(Gen 2:12a;)
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