Our church is studying Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby and Claude King, and I’m struck again by the simple truth that God wants to give generously, far beyond our meager requests of Him. Often in Scripture, someone asks for one thing, and God gives another.
It’s because God wants to give more. He goes beyond.
The authors point us to the paralytic in Mark 2, for example, who came asking for a particular kind of healing, and God offered another. He forgave his sins–a deeper, more profound healing–first.
I learn that when God doesn’t answer prayer, or when He answers in a way I don’t want or expect, it’s because He’s giving more.
Can I really believe this glorious truth?
I search the scriptures and remember that God longs to “give immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3). I remember that God came “so that we might have life and have it abundantly” (John 10). I even recall Jesus at one of the great feasts when He offers the promise of Living Water that would quench spiritual thirst forever (John 7).
Well then.
I think God’s denying me some great thing–giving me less–when really, there’s a more hidden inside the delay, the change, or the no.
This truth truly helps me live with flair.
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Have you experienced this?