A Gigantic Misnomer

 

 

How oft we’ve not prayed enough

Or so we’re led to believe

Simply because that for which we’ve prayed

We had not received?

 

How oft we’ve beaten up ourselves

Thinking “it’s some sin in me”

Just because God did not grant our wish

And the wish did not come to be?

 

How long have we believed

That God only answers the clean

And we set about cleaning ourselves

Because only the clean He esteems?

 

You see, that’s the way we think,

That we must earn our way

And rid ourselves of our many demerits

So that we can merit our pay.

 

But, does God reward us

In accordance with our perceived standing

And only meet our expectations

When we meet what He is demanding?

 

I should hear a resounding “No!”

For God always exceeds our asking

And we are His benefactors in this life

And in the life everlasting.

 

He is working always for our good

And in concert with His glory

And the minute part that we often see

Is not the major story.

 

It is disappointing, I know,

When our expectations are not met

Especially by the God who promised

To meet our every debt.

 

But now, we see through a glass darkly

And do not know what we shall be,

But we shall be like him, the Word assures,

And then we shall clearly see.

 

In the meantime, rest assured

In spite of the many unanswered questions

And draw the more closely to God

When the ill-winds threaten.

 

 

Never will God forsake us

Or abandon any by the wayside,

This is His promise to all that in him abide

And in Jesus the crucified.

 

Stewart Russell © March 3, 2022