Read your own mail

Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.                John 16:24

We all face situations that perplex us. We pray and ask God to do something, claiming promises from God’s Word. When things don’t come together as we expect, we feel that although God held out His hands toward us, asking us to walk to Him, He wasn’t there to catch us and we fall. Now we hesitate, uncertain, not knowing whether or not God can be trusted. 

Do we have unrealistic expectations of what God will do? Or is it that we have been misled by those who teach that we can ask God to do anything and He will do it?

One of our problems is that we are reading other people’s mail. Suppose that inadvertently the mailman put a letter addressed to your neighbor in your mailbox. Not paying attention to the address on the envelope, you open the letter and read an invitation to a dinner party next Friday night. “Great!” you think. On Friday you go to the home where the dinner party is to be held, but your name isn’t on the guest list. And you are rejected.

Thus one of the first principles of Bible study is asking, “To whom was this promise given? If the promise is made to a specific group or individual, is there a principle that could apply to me?” There are some promises in Scripture that are given specifically to individuals such as Abraham, David and many to His people Israel. But it doesn’t necessarily mean that the promise applies to us, too.

God is faithful and He honors the heart that is fully committed to Him. As it is said, “For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him” (2 Corinthians 16:9).

The Lord reigns, he is robed in majesty; the Lord is robed in majesty and is armed with strength. The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved. Your throne was established long ago; you are from all eternity. The seas have lifted up, O Lord, the seas have lifted up their voice; the seas have lifted up their pounding waves. Mightier than the thunder of the great waters, mightier than the breakers of the sea – the Lord on high is mighty. Your statues stand firm; holiness adorns your house for endless days, O Lord. Psalm 93:1-5