Turn - Max Lucado [12]
When Denalyn buys furniture she prefers one of two extremes—so antique it’s fragile or so new it’s unpainted. This time we opted for the latter and entered a store of in-the-buff furniture.
Andrea and Sara succeeded quickly in making their selections, and I set out to do the same. Somewhere in the process Sara learned we weren’t taking the desks home that day, and this news disturbed her deeply. I explained that the piece had to be painted, and they would deliver the desk in about four weeks. I might as well have said four millennia.
Her eyes filled with tears. “But Daddy, I wanted to take it home today.”
Much to her credit, she didn’t stomp her feet and demand her way.
“Daddy, don’t you think we could paint it ourselves?”
“Daddy, I just want to draw some picture on my new desk.”
“Daddy, please let’s take it home today.”
After a bit she disappeared, only to return, arms open wide and bubbling with a discovery.’ “Guess what, Daddy? It’ll fit in the back of the car!”
You and I know that a second-grader has no clue what will or won’t fit in a vehicle, but the fact that she had measured the trunk with her arms softened my heart. The clincher, though, was the name she used: “Daddy, can’t we please take it home?”
The Lucado family took a desk home that day.
I heard Sara’s request for the same reason God hears ours. Her desire was for her own good. What dad wouldn’t want his child to spend more time writing and drawing? Sara wanted what I wanted for her; she just wanted it sooner.
When we agree with what God wants, He hears us as well. (See I John 5:14.)
Sara’s request was heartfelt.
God, too, is moved by our sincerity.
The “earnest prayer of a righteous man has great power”(James 5:16. TLB).
But most of all. I was moved to respond because Sara called me “Daddy.” Because she is my child, I heard her request. Because we are His children, God hears ours. The King of creation gives special heed to the voice of His family. He is not only willing to hear us, He loves to hear us, He even tells us what to ask Him: “Your kingdom come.”
Your Kingdom Come
We’re often content to ask for less. We enter God’s presence with as satchelful of requests—promotions desired, pay raises wanted, transmission repairs needed, and tuitions due.
WE TYPICALLY SAY OUR PRAYERS AS CASUALLY AS WE’D ORDER A BURGER AT THE DRIVE-THROUGH:
“I’LL HAVE ONE SOLVED PROBLEM AND TWO BLESSINGS, CUT THE HASSLES, PLEASE.”
But such complacency seems shortsighted. Here we are before the King of kings. Dare we limit our discussion? Not that our needs don’t matter to Him, mind you. The pay raise is still needed and the promotion is still desired. But is that where we start?
Jesus tells how to begin. “When you pray, say: ‘Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come’” (Luke 11:2).
When you say, “Your kingdom come,” you are inviting the Messiah Himself to walk into your world. “Come, my King! Take Your throne in our land. Be present in this nation. Rule over our president. Be lord of my family, fears, and doubts.” This is no feeble request. It’s a bold appeal for God to occupy every corner of your life.
Who are you to ask such a thing?
You’re His child, for heaven’s sake!
“So let us come boldly to the very throne of God and stay there to receive his mercy and to find grace to help us in our times of need” (Hebrews 4:16, TLB).
If I, a sinful father, respond to the request of my child, how much more will our sinless God respond to us?
AVAIL YOURSELF OF THIS PRIVILEGE. SEIZE THIS OPPORTUNITY.
TURN.
TURN YOUR HEART TOWARD GOD.
WHEN YOU DO, WHEN WE DO, WHEN HIS PEOPLE DO, HE WILL
HEAL OUR LAND.
By the way, the living parable of Sara and her desk didn’t stop at the store. On the way home she realized that my desk was still at the store. “I guess you didn’t beg, did you, Daddy?” (We have not because we ask not.)
When we unloaded her desk she invited me to christen it with her by drawing a picture. I made a sign that said Sara’s Desk. She made a sign that said I Love