Some prayers tick like time bombs. We ask for contentment and humility while squinting, afraid we might just get what we’ve asked for. We are superstitious and fearful, worried that if we surrender all, God will send us to a remote island dressed like John the Baptist. Or worse, we’ll wallow in our mundane circumstances, wearing a badge of contentment while our longings are pushed aside like junk mail.
When we pray the hard prayers dutifully, we do so to a malicious God of our own making. This God looks less like a loving Father and more like the bully in a snowball fight with a storehouse of icy artillery. But God is no boogeyman. If we want to join the choir of believers who authentically sing, “I surrender all,” we must pray to the God of the Scriptures and no less. We will hand over the keys to the metaphorical car of our dreams only when we trust Jesus is worthy of them (and so much more).
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