A Message from the Interim Pastor…
In 1969, The Rolling Stones released an album titled Let It Bleed. (Which, believe it or not, I still have!) Included on the album is the song, You Can’t Always Get What You Want which provides this week’s song lyric. “You can’t always get what you want. But if you try sometimes, well you might find, you get what you need.”
What really strikes me about this verse is how well it applies to our prayer life. All too many of us pray for what I call “outcomes.” We pray for the disease to be cured. We pray for the relationship to be mended. We pray for a more fulfilling job. We pray for more members and/or more money for our church. In other words, we pray for “what we want.” And then, when what we pray for doesn’t happen we conclude that either God wasn’t listening, or God said “no”, or even worse yet, that God doesn’t care.
Perhaps though, what we really need is not for the disease to be cured or the relationship to be mended or the job to be more fulfilling or even more members/money for our church. Perhaps what we really need is a stronger and deeper relationship with God. Perhaps what we really need is to have a greater appreciation for the things that God has already done and continues to do for each and every one of us.
Now, it’s important to understand that I’m not saying that we should stop praying for these things. I’m also not saying that these things are not important to God. They are. What I’m saying is that, sometimes, the outcome that we “want” may not always be the outcome that we “need.” Sometimes the disease cannot be cured and the outcome that we need is for our loved one to find peace. Sometimes the relationship is so broken that it cannot be fixed and the outcome that we need is to allow space for God to direct us toward new relationships. Sometimes there just is no more fulfilling job to be had and the outcome we need is to find a greater sense of fulfillment in the job we already have. And sometimes, the members and money we have is all that we’re going to have to work with and the outcome we need is to find ways to grow God’s kingdom with what we already have.
“But if you try sometimes, well you might find, you get what you need.”
Peace and blessing,
Pastor Michael
|