WHAT WOULD WE ASK FOR?
If you could wish for anything in the world, what would it be? Some people wish they had different abilities. Others wish for a change in their life circumstances. There is something they have that they don’t want; or they want something they don’t have. What would your wish be: more money, more power, more pleasure?
The 2005 television reality show Three Wishes went to small towns across America and chose people to receive the one thing they wanted more than anything else in life. The advertisement said, ‘We are looking for emotional stories of people in need. We want to help deserving people—people who always help others, but never think of themselves.’ Then it asked the big question: ‘If you had one wish in the world and could ask for absolutely anything from the heart, what would it be?’
The television producers said that money was no object, which may explain why the show was cancelled after only one season: making wishes come true can get very expensive. But what if your biggest wish really could come true? What if the person asking what you wanted had infinite resources? What if you were King Solomon and God said, ‘Ask, what shall I give you’? What wish would you make from the heart?
In all holy humility, we should acknowledge our limitations, openly admitting how weak we are in honouring our parents, or serving our spouse, or raising a child, or loving a neighbour, or leading a ministry, or sharing the gospel, or any other single thing that God calls us to do. Then, with all confident faith, we should ask God for the wisdom we need to serve Him well in whatever He has called us to do. In ourselves, we are unequal to any of the tasks God has given us to do, but we can ask Him to give us a discerning mind and an understanding heart. We do not request this for ourselves, primarily, but for the good of God’s people and the sake of His Kingdom. That doesn’t mean that whatever thought pops in our heads in the answer to those prayers – I know Christians who have prayed for wisdom, and then have made ridiculous choices insisting that their conclusions are God’s answer. What matters most is that we refuse independent living, and walk humbly before the Lord, seeking counsel, and weighing our decisions carefully.