When we pray, oftentimes we think that the sole purpose of prayer is to ask God for things. “Help me get that job” or “Please heal my sister”. I once had this thought about the “Prayer Slot Machine” where people line up and pull a coin out of their pocket, pull the lever and hope for the best. Each coin represents a portion of our “faith” that we “give to God” and “trust he will answer our needs”.
It’s biblical, right?
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”
Matthew 7:7
The trouble is sometimes we’re asking the wrong questions or wanting things we think we need. We put our trust and hope in something that isn’t in our best interests, and when we don’t receive the answer we want, part of our faith disappears into that machine.
As I’ve been on this prayer journey, I’ve thought back to the movie “Bruce Almighty”. Specifically the scene where he puts together a system for answering prayer. Behold, the “Yah-Weh! Instaprayer – The Revelation Super Highway.”
Fortunately God cares more about us than to just answer YES all the time, and simply hand us what we want. He knows what we really need and has the wisdom and strength to say “I have something better for you.”
Many thanks to Emalie Tison for drawing the “Prayer Slot Machine”! More of her work can be found at www.emalietison.net