“Is anything too hard for the Lord?” – Genesis 18:14 (GNT)
Have you ever prayed for something less than what you truly desire?
By this, I’m not referring to desires that are bad. We certainly shouldn’t pray for something that will cause us or other people to sin.
I’m also not referring to those things that are merely for pleasure. I’m not saying we should pray for an excessive amount of money or other temporal goods.
But what I mean here is when you can’t find the faith to pray for something good.
Think about something you consider as worth praying for but for one reason or the other, you hold back from praying for it.
The Good Things We Can Pray For
Have you ever thought about a mission that could help many people in need? You may be like Mother Teresa who aspires to help the poorest of the poor.
On a smaller scale of things, you may simply want to set up a group in your neighborhood that would allow your neighbors to learn new skills for their livelihood.
You may also be dreaming about an organization that would help convert people who don’t believe in God.
On a personal level, you may be thinking about the healing of someone close to you. It could also be a personal healing or even a job with a better income so that you could help your immediate family.
Is there something you would like to ask God but you were kept from doing so?
Why We Hold Back From Praying
I felt guilty about the same thing. I kept on asking God for something while my heart was set on something else. It’s as though I were saying God couldn’t possibly give me my true dream so I’m settling for something less.
There seem to be two things that keep us back from asking the very best things from God:
1. Our feeling of unworthiness
2. Our lack of faith in Him
I should ask myself, “Why can’t you believe God would grant you what you ask?”
Is God not powerful enough? Is He not generous enough?
God Longs To Give Us More
“Then he said to the king of Israel, ‘Take the arrows,’ which he did. Elisha said to the king of Israel, ‘Beat the ground!’ He beat the ground three times and stopped. The man of God became angry with him and said, ‘You should have beat five or six times. You would have beaten Aram and finished him. Now you will beat Aram only three times.’” – 2 Kings 13:18-19 (NABRE)
The prophet Elisha was angry with the king because he couldn’t believe God could grant him more.
Perhaps this is one of the reasons God sometimes delays in answering our prayers. It is not that He couldn’t give us that thing we ask. Because He has all the power to give every blessing.
But maybe He is waiting for us to be more honest with Him. He may be waiting all along for that time when we could finally tell Him what our true intentions are.
Maybe He also wants us to have more faith in Him. Not only in His Power, but in His Goodness.
Is God not compassionate enough to hear the deepest cries of our hearts?
Final Thoughts
While we should not be like spoiled children asking for foolish things, we should not act like orphans without a Father who can give us what we need.
Let us never think God is withholding the best things from us. It is in fact the other way around.
God desires what’s best for us! But He wants us to trust Him and to work with Him.
Like the Blessed Virgin Mary, may we believe in the unfailing wisdom, power and mercy of God.
“For nothing will be impossible with God.” – Luke 1:37 (NRSVCE)
“You pay God a compliment by asking great things of Him.”- St. Teresa of Avila
Jocelyn Soriano writes regularly on Patheos under the column “Beloved”. She also writes about relationships and the Catholic faith at Single Catholic Writer. She wrote the books To Love an Invisible God and Questions to God.
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