James 4:2-3 “…You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives.…”
During the presidency of George W. Bush, he challenged educators to avoid the “soft bigotry of low expectations.” He wanted schools to stop subtle discrimination by expecting poor minority students to fail and so teach from that perspective. The theory: expect students to succeed will give them a better shot.
Sometimes I think we experience the “soft bigotry of low expectations” when it comes to God. Oh, we won’t come right out and say we don’t believe he will answer our prayers. But if we look honestly at our faith, we find we really don’t expect him to come through. Especially if we need something in the realm of miracle status. He’s hopeless. She will never change! That’s impossible! Such thoughts say a lot about our view of God.
If we believe we serve a big God, why wouldn’t we ask him for big things? C.S. Lewis writes, “It would seem our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak….like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”
According to James, we don’t have because we don’t ask. Maybe one of the reasons we don’t ask is because we fail to see either the vastness of God’s sovereignty or the depth of his love. He either lacks the power or compassion to intervene in our circumstance. Our puny perspective keeps him at our level.
But as long as our motives stem from wanting his will more than our own, we don’t have to be afraid of asking. God will cover our requests. In the biggest ask of his life, even Jesus said, “not my will but yours.” He trusted his Father to adjust his prayer. So can we.
If we want to move beyond the bigotry of low expectations on God, there’s no better time to start. Let’s trust him with our biggest dreams and grandest hopes. Be assured he will bring our best to pass. Friend, let’s refuse to be content making mud pies.