When I ask God for things, I don’t always get what I ask for.  I ask, “In Jesus’ name” and everything, but still I don’t get what I want.  This can get confusing with such passages as today’s.

“Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.”  I love my 3 year old Isaac, and I would give him anything.  But at times, he asks for all kinds of things, from unhealthy food to risky adventures to downright dangerous toys.  I love him, so much in fact that I would never do anything or allow anything to seriously hurt him.  And so I have a conundrum – is love giving him what he asks or protecting him from what he asks for?

This is God’s conundrum as well.  Does He give us what we ask for when it’s dangerous, or does He protect us, even when that means saying no?  And that leads to the hardest part of that love.  Often when the things for which we ask are not going to lead to our best or are even dangerous for us, they still don’t seem like it.  And so we get confused because what we ask for “cannot be anything but good,” and yet God may still say no.

I guess it boils down, as does so much in our lives, to faith.  Do we trust God to have a better view of the future than we do?  Do we trust God to be seeking our best even better than we do?  If so, then the best prayer we can possibly give is, “Your will be done.”

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