You don’t know what you’re asking… Have you ever laid out your laundry list before God? Told him exactly what you expect him to do? You are certainly not alone. Throughout the scriptures we find the stories of those who have told God exactly what they want and how they want it. Job tells God that he wants an audience... an opportunity to plead his case before the Almighty. James and John tell Jesus that they want him to do whatever they ask of him: to sit at his right hand and his left. The danger in telling God what you want him to do is that he may just respond. God challenges Job and asks him if he was around when the foundations of the world were laid…to show he understands the nature of God’s creative wisdom and foresight…and to argue his case from that perspective. Jesus tells James and John that they don't know what they are asking. That while they will drink the cup that Jesus drinks and be baptized with the baptism with which he is baptized, they, like Job, darken his counsel with words without knowledge. How often do we tell God exactly what we think He needs to do to set the world straight? (I mean, there’s a lot that needs to be straightened out, isn’t there?) Imagine how different our life might be if we would be quiet before the Lord and ask only for knowledge of his will for us along with the grace and power to carry it out. That’s something worth asking for! Blessings,
Matthew+ Almighty and everlasting God, in Christ you have revealed your glory among the nations: Preserve the works of your mercy, that your Church throughout the world may persevere with steadfast faith in the confession of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP p.235) | 
