Open to Requests

October 26

Jesus is rather like the ‘oldies but goodies’ station on the radio—He’s open to requests. He has made it abundantly clear in His Word that He desires to do good things for His people. Jesus is in the prayer-answering business. Yet there may be times when we are denied. What provokes those times?

There is an example in Luke 10:40 that may give some insight into the ‘Why?’ of that perplexity. In this situation, Jesus is a guest in the home of Mary and Martha and their brother Lazarus. We can assume that they were close followers of Jesus and that He was in their home frequently.

We can further assume that there was a familiarity among them that is a trait of all people who are close to each other—whether family members or intimate friends—there is an openness that allows each to express his heart. Martha obviously felt this ability to be herself with Jesus. She felt put upon and freely told Him so. ”Martha was distracted by her many tasks and asked, “Lord, don’t You care that my sister Mary has left me to serve alone?” Martha wanted Jesus to reprimand Mary for neglecting to be a hostess.

Instead, He denied Martha—He would not allow Mary to be relegated to service at the expense of her time with Him. He wanted Martha to set aside her serving and focus on Him as well. The times He denies us the things we supplicate may be when those things would ultimately lead us away from Him. He will deny us the things that would cause us to focus on the mundane things of time rather than the treasures of eternity. He wants our value system to be based on His, not on the paltry trappings the world considers precious.