Have you ever wanted to rewrite scripture? Today I found myself wanting to rewrite the Lord's Prayer. You know the part that says "Give us this day our daily bread"? I really wish I could change it to, "Give us this day enough bread for the next 5 or 6 months so I don't have to ask again for a while."
Can anyone relate or am I alone in this?
In the age of Dave Ramsey Christianity, we always want to have an emergency fund and financial stability and independence. They say the best miracle is not needing one. Today I feel like the wandering people of Isreal during the fifth year of their desert-crossing quest for the wealth and abundance that the TV preacher promised them. Every day they had to gather their food and anything they tried to save for the next day rotted overnight. They always had enough for that day, but never enough for the next day. Considering how most Americans live paycheck to paycheck and consider a credit card to be vaguely equivalent to an emergency fund, I am going to assume you can relate.
It's no wonder that people hate the prosperity gospel. When everything you try to save is gone the next day due to illness, the economy, debt, or whatever else, it's hard not to resent the guy on the TV talking about how God wants to bless you and make your business bigger than Amazon. I can understand why Isreal grumbled against Moses.
In the last five years, Job has been my hero. Listen to his reaction to the news that he just lost absolutely everything he had. From chapter 1...
“I came naked from my mother’s womb,
and I will be naked when I leave.
The LORD gave me what I had,
and the LORD has taken it away.
Praise the name of the LORD!”
The narrator adds, "In all of this, Job did not sin by blaming God."
I think the most powerful kind of prayer is praising God in the middle of everything going terribly wrong.
God, I trust that everything you have promised to me directly, through your word, and even through the shady TV preachers will come to pass. I trust you when I see you provide miraculously, and I trust you the next morning when I wake up with nothing again. I trust you when the doctors say the treatments are working, and when the doctors say that plan ABCD and E all failed. You are only ever good to me. Everything good in my life is from you, and when I count my blessings I don't come up short. You never cease to amaze. It's not a faith statement to say that I am truly truly blessed. You have made me so happy and given me such amazing loving friends and family that I am well beyond content. You're the best. Seriously.