Were you expecting to find it?

 

Many years ago, I came across this short piece of writing, and it sits in the recesses of my memory coming to mind quite frequently, especially when I’m praying for something that seems impossible.

“Many a ship passes in the night,

touching at our wharf with the precious freight

which we have been praying for,

but we are not there to receive it.

Many a dove comes to our window from the

weltering waste of waters;

but we are too immersed in other things to notice its light tap.

We pray, but we do not wait;

we ask, but we do not expect to receive;

we knock, but we are gone before the door is opened.”  F.B.Meyer

How many times are we guilty of praying a specific prayer, then walking away and forgetting all about it? We don't stay at the foot of the cross, holding out our hands expectantly, waiting for God to grant the request with his abundance. Instead, we get discouraged, we doubt God's goodness, his provision, his protection. We go our way and while we're gone, the answer comes, but “we are gone before the door is opened.”

The story is told of a little girl who announced to her mother one sunny morning, “I’m going to pick some flowers in the woods. Do you want to join me?” It was an unlikely time of year for there to be any wildflowers in the woods, but this mother realised the importance of spending time with her daughter, and so, with basket in hand, off they went in search of the brightly coloured blooms.

As they walked through the woods, they spotted moss and mushrooms, vines and leaves. But not a single flower.

The mother assuming that there were no blooms to be found casually began picking up acorns instead.

The daughter, on the other hand, was undeterred. She looked under every bush, peered around trees, peeked under logs and searched through the leaves on the forest floor.

But her basket remained empty.

Just as they were nearing the trail’s end, the mother heard an excited squeal. She turned to see her little girl gleefully skipping through the grass and dropping to her knees in a beautiful spray of purple wildflowers.

“How did I walk right past these?”, the mother wondered aloud as her daughter filled her basket with the fresh blossoms.

With the insight and wisdom of someone much older, her daughter calmly replied, “You didn’t see the flowers because you weren’t expecting to find any.”

How often do I find myself in this mother’s shoes? Guilty of not finding anything because I wasn’t expecting to find anything. Guilty of praying without expectation of an answer.

I stand on the wharf, gazing out into the darkness of the sea, lifting up a prayer to God, and then I turn and walk away. With a shrug of my shoulders, and a sigh, I think to myself, “God won’t answer that prayer. It’s too small. It’s too large. It’s too hard. It’s not worth his time.”

And away I walk, not content to wait a little longer, to pray a little harder, to persevere in holy desperation, crying out to God for his mercy, kindness and love.

Often, we pray, but we don’t wait. We ask, but we don’t expect anything to come of it. We knock, but we turn away, not expecting the door to be opened.

And when the answer comes, we are not there to receive it and we don’t recognize it as the answer to our prayer. Sometimes it’s because it arrives in a different form then we imagined.

God often wraps things in unlikely packaging, and we don’t realise that his gift is the gift we longed for. In our waiting we have lost the enthusiasm we once had and when the answer comes we are surprised as we weren’t expecting it, and our lack of expectation blinded our eyes to the blessing.

We have fallen prey to the seed of doubt. And possibly unbelief.

In the book of James, we are likened to something when we waver in our faith.

James 1:5-7 KJV - If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.

We are likened to a wave of the sea.

I love the ocean. I love to stand at the water’s edge, with my toes digging into the sand, watching the waves roll in, and feeling the coolness of the water lap at my feet. I watch the wave as it comes in, then goes out, then in, then out. Over and over.

It’s the wind that is driving the waves onto the shoreline. The force of the wind blows over the surface of the water, and as it transfers its energy, it causes the water to move in a circular motion. The rise and fall of water molecules create a wave that moves in the direction of the wind.

Why are we likened to a wave when we pray without faith? When we waver and doubt it is because the ‘winds’ in our lives are causing this in out motion. Faith. Doubt. Faith. Doubt.

What is the wind in your life that drives you? Is it a wind of doubt? Is it a wind of anxiety? Is it a wind of fear?

Our expectations affect our vision.

This verse in Jeremiah holds a beautiful promise.

Jeremiah 29:13 KJV - And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

The searching in this verse is not a casual glance or a hurried hunt. No. It’s a searching with passion and expectation, like the little girl unwaveringly, persistently, determinedly seeking for her precious blooms.

And because she expected to find them, she did. And her efforts were rewarded.

When we search for God, when we look for him with our whole heart, when we cry out to him in sincere desperation, knowing that only he holds the key to unlock the heavy case of burdens we carry, when we seek him, we WILL find him.

We WILL have the answers we need.

Hebrews 11:6 KJV - But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

We don’t please God when we waver in our faith. We have to believe. And he will bless. But notice that is says he will reward the diligent? Those that diligently seek him. There has to be some earnestness about our prayers. Some care, some steadfastness. Some expectation.

God loves us and wants to give good gifts to his children, but he has an expectation as well. He expects us to ask. And to keep on asking. To seek. And to keep on seeking. To knock. And to keep on knocking.

He doesn’t want half-hearted prayers. He wants us to be all in.

He wants us to pull up that deck chair, hat in hand, coat to the ready, nourishment handy, sitting on the wharf in eager expectation and anticipation of his answers.

Now, that doesn’t mean we don’t put feet to our prayers. We need to be busy doing the work of the Lord, but in all our busyness, we need to remember God’s goodness and we need not forget that nothing is too hard for God.

No need, no hurt, no wound, no request is beyond God. With God, ALL things are possible.

We have to remain prayerful, persistent, expectant, obedient and trusting. God expects us to pray with a heart of faith and hope. He wants us to bring our requests to him continually and pray over and over, impressing upon him the importance of our particular request.

It’s not wrong to pray for something consistently until God opens the floodgates of Heaven and grants our desires and we see the mighty hand of God work and we are able to give Him all the glory.

How many souls have been saved because a faithful Christian wouldn't give up on praying for that one to come to Christ? They weren't content to pray once, and walk away, not waiting for the answer. No, they were ready and waiting at the wharf, continually begging God and interceding on someone else's behalf until God answered. 

I don't want to be so busy in life, that I don't notice those little answers to prayer. We often ask a small request of God, then don't even see the answer arrive because we're so busy doing other things, and our expectation was so small that the blessing comes and goes by unnoticed. 

I want to be like the little girl, persistent, expectant, full of hope and wonder, excitement and anticipation, eager to find what she’s searching for and not giving up until she finds it.

 

“Ask great things of God

Attempt great things for God

Expect great things from God”

Hudson Taylor

Matthew 7:7-8 KJV - Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.