Begging for Food
If anyone gets excited about their next meal, it’s our dog
Mabel. I know most dogs live for food,
but compared to the other dogs I’ve had through the years, Mabel gets
exceptionally excited when she knows she it’s mealtime. She will bark and jump and spin and beg…and
beg…and beg! And, oh how she can
beg! It’s like she’s saying, “Please
feed me! Yes, feed me! PLEASE FEED
ME!!”
Not only that, but whenever we sit at the kitchen table,
although Mabel may be somewhere else in the house, she will pick up on cues
that we are about to eat. The opening of
a jar, the rustle of a paper, or the opening of the refrigerator door and she
will come bounding down the steps, take a seat next to one of us, and look up
at us with her big eyes, not asking but begging for something to eat. Yes, as often as she can, Mabel is begging
for food—just little more food.
I tend to think that many of us treat God the way Mabel does
us. We come to God with our needs and
beg and beg and beg. We think that if we
are going to get from him what we have need of that, we have to beg before he
will give it to us. Sometimes we act as
if God is going to make us perform—i.e. do all kinds of dog tricks—before he
gives anything to us. So, we beg by
means of the way we pray and serve and worship, thinking that by doing so we
can eventually get from God.
But, that’s not the way the Bible portrays God. God is not a master dog trainer putting us
through all kinds of hoops before he tends to our needs. He’s not looking for
us to beg from him. Rather, he is a heavenly Father who loves us as his
children. He is a good and perfect
Father who freely pours into our lives that which we have need of. And, although the Bible teaches us to pray,
and even be persistent in prayer, our prayers are not meant to be the begging
of a dog to his master, but the trustful asking of a child to his or her good father.
Jesus said, “And when you pray, do not keep on babbling
like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do
not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” (Matthew 6:7-8 - NIV) He then went on to teach us to pray, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your
name, your kingdom come,
your will be done on
earth as it is in heaven…Give us today our daily bread.” (Matthew 6:9-11 – NIV)
Whatever your need might be today, take it to God your heavenly
Father. You don’t need to beg him. Just,
ask him and trust him like a child trusting their good and perfect Father. He will take care of you, answer you, and
give to you your daily bread.
Have a good day!
Pastor Tim Harris
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