|
|
| Tackling Tough Issues |  | |
| | | Ministers have a potential conflict of interest with God. | | by Richard W. O'Ffill | | To put it bluntly, a pastors may want God to bless him so that he can climb the professional ladder. It isn't fair to suggest that only ministers have this potential problem-- everyone does. Often we pray for all the right things but for all the wrong reasons. Though we may fool some of the people some of the time and ourselves all of the time, we can't fool God any time. We're impressed by what we see and hear. Some of the world's worst despots came to power professing honorable causes. If the people had known their hearts, they never would have followed them. One day, God sent Samuel the prophet to anoint a king for Israel . He told him that He would choose one of Jesse's sons. As the young men passed by one by one, the prophet was impressed by their appearances. But God told him something that on one hand is comforting but on the other hand can make our pretensions of no avail as far as God is concerned. "Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his statue; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7). Our problem is that "the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9). This is why the psalmist prayed, "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked ways in me, and lead me in the way everlasting" (Psalm 139:23, 24). In our prayers, motive is everything. The problem of unanswered prayer is usually of our own making. I am sure that often God doesn't answer our prayers because our motives aren't at the level of what we are praying for. If God answered prayers that were motivated by pride, selfishness, or bitterness, He would, in effect, be aiding and abetting our sins. I have found it helpful, when making a request to God, not just to pray that this or that will happen but actually explain to God why I am making that particular request. I don't do this to help Him understand but to better understand the request myself. I must confess that more than once when I've finished telling Him why I want Him to do something, I end up saying, "Never mind!" | | |
|
|
