I want MY way!

"And it came to pass after these things, that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. And Ahab spake unto Naboth, saying, Give me thy vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near unto my house: and I will give thee for it a better vineyard than it; or, if it seem good to thee, I will give thee the worth of it in money.
And Naboth said to Ahab, The LORD forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee.
And Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him: for he had said, I will not give thee the inheritance of my fathers. And he laid him down upon his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread."

I Kings 21:1-4

When I read about King Ahab, I can just see him flinging himself across his bed and refusing to eat. Ahab wanted his way and if he couldn't have it, he was going to pout. If it weren't so sad it would be funny.

Even sadder is the idea that we have an entire culture that acts the same way when God doesn't give us our way. My husband preaches against the idea of a "vending machine God." So many people have the idea that if they put in the right combination of actions and prayers and push the right buttons then the blessing of their choice will surely spew forth.

That's not how it works. That very mindset is not a mature Christian mindset.

When I was a kid, I was pretty good in school. I had a couple of years when I didn't try as hard and my grades slipped from straight-A's to A's & B's. I was working again to bring my grades back up and someone said I should claim the verse:

"Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart."

Psalm 37:4

As a 13-year-old, that sounded pretty good to me. If I just did what God wanted, I could have anything I wanted. Then I started looking closer. Did that mean God would give me anything I wanted? Would He give me the object of my desires, or would He give me the desires themselves?

Even as a child, I knew that the better thing was to have God-given desires. So that was how I prayed.

Through the years, those people I have known who focused on the objects of their desires, their WAY, haven't fared well. Those who wanted God to give them the desires themselves have grown in the Lord and are the happiest people I know.

Don't be like Ahab.