Let It Go!

 

Photo by Living In Monrovia 2009

As time goes by, I find that my prayers get longer. I would like to hope that this is because as I become closer to God, I want to spend more quiet time with Him, but I fear this is only part of the reason.

Another reasonable explanation for longer prayers may also be that as we grow older, so do our friends and families, and with aging comes a host of physical, financial and spiritual needs. So our intercessory prayers become laden with many pressing urgent requests. These needs seldom resolve right away, so our prayer list grows daily with new emergencies and continued chronic problems.

Sometimes it is clear that our prayers have been answered, whether or not to our liking, and we can remove that request from our list. For example, if we pray for healing for a loved one with cancer, and that person goes home to be with the Lord, then we know that the healing has been accomplished, not in this world, as we had hoped, but in Heaven. We can then pray for peace and comfort for ourselves and others who mourn, but it would be pointless to continue to pray for healing.

But sometimes the direction our prayers should take is less clear cut. What if a loved one has a stroke, and we pray for recovery, and God grants it, is it then wrong to pray that they won’t have any more strokes? Should we thank God, trust Him to work all things together according to His perfect will (Romans 8:28), and move on to other requests?

Or has God allowed this situation in our lives to increase our dependence on and faith in Him, and even our thankfulness? When this type of situation occurs in my life, I’m ashamed to admit that sometimes my gratitude is short-lived. I thank God for the positive outcome of the prayer request – for a day or two – and then my prayers turn to “and please Lord, don’t let that happen again.”

I am reminded of ten lepers whom Jesus cleansed and healed, but only one returned to thank Him, and he was rewarded with spiritual as well as physical healing (Luke 17:12-19). I wonder if the others forgot about the Great Physician altogether, or if they were sacrificing and praying in the temple to never contract leprosy again.

The danger of this type of prayer is that it can become the sin of worry, which is motivated by fear and reflects a lack of faith. Fear should be cast out of our hearts by God’s perfect love (1 John 4:18), and without faith, it is impossible to please Him (Hebrews 11:6).

Perhaps the most extreme example of this type of worry is the believer who doubts their eternal security. Rather than knowing they are Heaven-bound, they may always worry that their last sin was too great, or that the cumulative total of their sins was too many, for God to forgive. Such doubt erodes joy in the Lord and peace that passes all understanding.

Do we trust God to provide for all our needs, physical and spiritual, or do we feel that we need to remind Him of how threatened we felt in a particular situation, and how bad it would be if that situation occurred once more?

Do we trust in His perfect will and timing, knowing that He knows all our needs even before we ask Him (Matthew 6:8), and that any trial He permits in our life is for our ultimate good, the good of others, and His glory?  

Can we trust Him to give us perfect peace by keeping our minds, hearts and souls fixed on Him (Isaiah 26:3), or do we need to perpetuate the illusion that we are in control? If we worry/pray enough about a negative experience not recurring, do we think we can prevent it?

Over the years, it seems that the stuff in our house has multiplied just as our prayer list has grown, and not always for the better! I enjoy having many clothes to choose from so that I can dress in a manner that reflects the song I plan to sing in church, and my husband enjoys collecting and studying fossilized shells and animal bones and teeth that we gather from the beach. We both appreciate having photos and other mementos of our family, travels, and dance ministry.

These things are not expensive, or may even be free, but they are not without cost, as they take time to dust, sort, and find suitable places to store them. Taken to the extreme, acquiring things can become hoarding, with our possessions not only getting underfoot and causing stress, but even creating a health or safety hazard.

Many missionaries our church supports have the opposite problem, living in huts with straw roofs and dirt floors, and having few if any possessions, yet they have joy in the Lord (Nehemiah 8:10; Psalm 35:9; Isaiah 29:19) and the peace that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7), for they trust God to provide for their daily needs (Matthew 6:25-34).

Jesus taught us to pray for our daily bread (Matthew 6:11), and to have only one coat (Luke 9:3), not to hoard provisions for future use. This can become a foolish pursuit, for we are not promised tomorrow (James 4:14). Even our prized possessions are more likely to be a burden than a treasure to those who survive us.

As Jesus explained, we should instead store up treasure in Heaven, free of corruption from rust and decay, and of loss by theft (Luke 12:33; Matthew 6:19-20). Once we are saved by trusting in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) as the only Way (John 14:6) to Heaven, we can enjoy these treasures throughout eternity! They are not physical trophies, but spiritual blessings and rewards given for souls we help bring to Christ through our witness, testimony, and lifestyle.

A well-known story tells of a little girl who cherished her prized possession – an inexpensive fake “pearl” necklace she found in a box of Cracker Jack. She wore it everywhere, even to go to sleep at night. One day her father asked her to give him the necklace, because he wanted to give her something else instead. She stubbornly refused, clutching it tightly to her neck.

“Honey, don’t you trust me?” her father asked. “I can’t give you your special gift until you let that go.”

Finally, after much cajoling, the little girl reluctantly unclasped the necklace, held it tightly in her palm for a few moments, and slowly released her grip on it, placing it in her father’s hand. Much to her surprise and delight, her father brought out an elegant velvet box holding a strand of genuine pearls of great value. As he lovingly fastened the clasp around her neck, she realized that letting go was the best decision!

May we trust our Father to always provide His best for us and be willing to relinquish what we think we need – control, self-sufficiency, earthly goods, and even prayers borne out of worry rather than of faith. May we let go of whatever hinders us from collecting souls for Jesus!

© 2023 Laurie Collett