What to Ask For

Scripture Reading: Psalm 123

To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens! Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maidservant to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the LORD our God, till he has mercy upon us. Have mercy upon us, O LORD, have mercy upon us, for we have had more than enough of contempt. Our soul has had more than enough of the scorn of those who are at ease, of the contempt of the proud.

One of the interesting aspects of this Psalm is the lack of specificity in the prayer. He doesn’t tell God what he wants done. He just asks for mercy.

I believe we should pray with specificity. We should say what we are asking for. James rebukes in this regard when he says, “You have not because you ask not.” Oftentimes, the reason we won’t be specific is because we don’t have faith to believe God can answer prayers. We don’t want to make the leap of faith that God will give us exactly what we ask for.

Are there times when we can and should refrain from saying exactly what we want?

Yes.

Sometimes we can refrain because we don’t know what the answer to our problem is. When we know we need something but we don’t know what it is, it is wise to just say that.

And we can follow the example of this Psalmist too. We can just trust God to give us the best answer to our problems.  We can believe that God is good, that He cares for us, and that he will show us mercy and grace, and then leave our problems with Him for Him to do what He sees fit because we know He can be trusted.

The last verse of the hymn “Whatever God Ordains is Right,” by Samuel Rodigast expresses this idea well:

Whate'er my God ordains is right:
here shall my stand be taken;
though sorrow, need, or death be mine,
yet am I not forsaken.
My Father's care is round me there;
he holds me that I shall not fall:
and so to him I leave it all.

May we be able to “Him leave it all.”