I saw a video on Instagram the other day where Kerry Washington was talking about faith.
She said, “you can’t pray for God to help you catch the bus and then leisurely walk down the street. You have to run full speed to the bus, and then if you don’t catch it, that wasn’t your bus.”
Oof. Did that hit you as hard as it hit me?
How often do you pray for God to do work in your life, but are unwilling to get your hands dirty and help? How often do you follow God’s guidance through a problem rather than sitting idly by, waiting for him to clean it up?
I think it’s wonderful to believe in the mighty power of God, to believe that he can make anything possible, but at times this can make us lazy. It can tempt us to ask God to meet our will rather than carry out his own. It might even allow us to forget what prayer is—not a wish to a genie, but a question, a hope, a desire, a conversation with a loving God who knows what we need when we need it.
Let’s stick with the bus metaphor.
Say you have an important meeting to get to and you need to take the 8:00 a.m. bus.
But when your alarm goes off, you snooze it. You take your time moving through your morning routine, you scroll on your phone a little bit, you take a few extra minutes picking out what to wear. When you check your watch on your way out, you see that it’s 7:55 a.m. and it’s a 15-minute walk to the bus.
You pray to God that you can make that bus as you walk slowly down the street. You stop to take a picture of a pretty building, you pop into a café to buy a coffee and a pastry, you post a story on Instagram. When you come around the corner at 8:15 a.m., the bus isn’t there.
Can you really consider that as God answering your prayer as a no?
Or did you take matters into your own hands, answering your own question with an “I don’t want to know.”
I don’t want to know what would have happened if I made that bus.
I don’t want to know what would have happened if I tried and then didn’t make the bus.
That’s why I moved so slowly; why I did everything I could to avoid coming around that corner on time. I was scared. Scared of a yes, scared of no, scared of the prayer and its ramifications.
Have you ever prayed for answers you’re scared to get?
I know I have.
I have asked God for help, for progress, for answers, knowing full well I am terrified to get all three. I have asked God for a sign and then closed my eyes.
But God wants us to work with him. He wants us to pray boldly and then believe boldly.
To know that He is in control and that we can trust him.
To run full speed towards one of our prayers so that we might clearly hear his voice saying yes, no, or not yet.
As Kerry says later in the video, “rejection can be protection.” And even though rejection can hurt and a “no” can be confusing or unsettling, we can have faith that God knows better. That our bus is coming, and he’ll make sure we don’t miss it.
2 Chronicles 15:7 says, “But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded.”
What prayers are you praying that you can meet God in the work?
What bus can you start running towards to see if it’s yours?
Many times I have closed my eyes, afraid of that yes, no or not yet!
Well written :)
XO