Heads up!

I was listening to my favorite "round table" discussion of biblical topics the other day. It's called Radio Bible Class with Haddon Robinson, Alice Matthews and Mart DeHaan.  These are the same folks who produce "Our Daily Bread", the popular daily devotional pamphlet published each month of the year. They were discussing Matthew 7:9,10, where Jesus asks the question:

"You parents--if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him."

One of the two fathers in the conversation recalled a time when he and his wife had been at an amusement park with their young daughter. She was begging for cotton candy and they chose not to give it to her at the moment. The daughter was asking for a good thing, the father observed, in asking for food. But she was asking for dessert when she needed dinner. Her loving parents took her to a nearby restaurant and bought her a bowl of soup and some bread. They granted her request for food, but not in the way the little girl expected. They gave her something better, something that would give her body the right kind of energy.

The next morning, after hearing and pondering this example, I was studying Lisa Harper's Bible study on the Old Testament book of Malachi, which our Tuesday morning ladies' Bible study will be working on during our spring semester. Lisa challenged us to read Isaiah 49:11 and Isaiah 55:8,9, then combine these two promises of God's redemption, and make them into a prayer for the coming week. I actually looked at the wrong verse, and copied down Isaiah 49:13, instead of 49:11, but it worked. Here are the original verses, and then, here is my prayer for the week:

"And I will make my mountains into level paths for them.
The highways will be raised above the valleys."
Isaiah 49:11 (New Living Translation)

"Sing for joy, O heavens!
Rejoice, O earth!
Bust into song, O mountains!
For the Lord has comforted his people
and will have compassion on them in their suffering."
Isaiah 49:13 (New Living Translation)

"'My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,' says the Lord.
'And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.
For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so my ways are higher than your ways
and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.'"
Isaiah 55:8,9 (New Living Translation)

My prayer for this week:
"Dance, rejoice, God hears your prayers, He has compassion on your suffering. His answers may surprise and engage and enliven you. They may not be what you expect, so get ready!"

When I ask for a good thing, like security or love or confidence or faith or patience or godly character or wisdom, God will give it to me. But, like the loving, sensible parents from Radio Bible Class, God may give me what I ask for in a very different form than I was expecting! So, heads up! Watch for the blessings coming down and thank God when they arrive, no matter what they look like!

--Posted by Mama O.