What Are You Praying For?
13. 36. 45. 57..67. 14
Those were the winning numbers of the recent Mega Millions lottery ticket. The winning ticket was purchased at a Speedy Cafe Speedway gas station in Des Plaines, IL on Friday July 29. Once they come forward, the winner will receive $1.337 billion (or $780 million in cash). Of course It is possible that we may never find out who the lucky winner is, as winners can choose to remain anonymous. But while we may never found out who won, we definitely know who lost. All y’all who brought a ticket. LOL.
Now let’s be clear: I ain’t mad at anyone who spent a few dollars for the chance to win millions. Unlike some of my other peers, I have no issue with the lottery or any games of chance, per se. Games of chance are as old as humanity, and occur repeatedly in scripture. Lots were cast to determine the fate of a prophet, (Jonah 1:7), the new owner of Jesus’s wardrobe (Matthew 27:35) and Judas’ successor (Acts 1:26). The inclusion of games of chance in scripture hardly amounts to an endorsement or adoption of the practice.. It simply is an admission of the role of chance in human affairs. In Ecclesiastes 9:11, the Bible says “The race is not given to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.” So to repeat: I ain’t mad at anyone who spent a few dollars for the chance to win millions.
What I did find somewhat concerning and confusing was the level of excitement, anxiety and angst among so many people as the prize kept growing larger. Weekly, I was bombarded with questions from the saints about the lottery. No one asked if they should play. LOL. But more than a few people asked me if it was proper to ask God to help them win. My answer to everyone who asked me that question was the same. I replied that I wasn’t sure if they should pray to win, but that they should pray for wisdom in case they won. I know that 70 percent of lottery winners spend or lose all the money they win within 5 years, and more 30% file for bankruptcy Those astounding statistics suggests that most of us need wisdom much more than we need money—although you probably couldn’t tell that if we could take a tally of all our secret prayers.
Wouldn’t it be interesting if Heaven kept a search engine like google that was able to provide us with some data on the top ten prayer requests across the globe? I wonder what the results would be. It would be even more interesting if we could sort the results by country, city, class, race, nationality, and gender, and even religious affiliation. I wonder what the results would be. What do you think most of us pray for? Love? Health? Wealth? Prosperity? Peace? Promotions? Vacations?
Let me narrow the target.
What are YOU praying for?
Wouldn’t it be awesome if more of us prayed for what Solomon prayed for? Solomon was David’s son, and inherited the Kingdom of Israel at a very young age. The scripture tells us that shortly after he assumed the throne, God appeared to him in a dream and told him that he would give him whatever he wanted! Imagine, God asking you that! God, who has unlimited power, unlimited resources, and unlimited favor, asking you to write your own ticket! Imagine a God who has everything and who can give you anything asking you how you want him to bless you! How would you respond? According to 1 Kings 3:5-9, this is how Solomon responded:
My father David, your servant, was honest and did what you commanded. You were always loyal to him, and you gave him a son who is now king. Lord God, I'm your servant, and you've made me king in my father's place. But I'm very young and know so little about being a leader. 8And now I must rule your chosen people, even though there are too many of them to count. Please make me wise and teach me the difference between right and wrong. Then I will know how to rule your people. If you don't, there is no way I could rule this great nation
Solomon asked God to make him wise. God was so pleased with Solomon’s request that not only did he do what Solomon asked, God did more than what Solomon asked. God said to Solomon:
I'm pleased that you asked for this. You could have asked to live a long time or to be rich. Or you could have asked for your enemies to be destroyed. Instead, you asked for wisdom to make right decisions. 12So I'll make you wiser than anyone who has ever lived or ever will live.
'll also give you what you didn't ask for. You'll be rich and respected as long as you live, and you'll be greater than any other king.
Because Solomon did not ask for what most people would have asked for, God gave him those things as well. By asking for wisdom, Solomon was giving us a profound lesson on what is valuable in life, and providing us with a template on how we should spend our time with God and what we should spend our time asking for.
Now some might argue that it was easy for Solomon to ask for wisdom because he already had money, power, and status. I recently read that Tiger Woods turned down $800 million dollars to join a golf association with ties to the government of Saudia Arabia. Not only did he turn them down, but he condemned many of his colleagues who decided to join the association. But as several observers pointed out, its’ not so hard to turn down a $800 million dollar offer when you have. a net worth of $1 billion. As it is Tiger, so it was with Solomon. Solomon’s father David left Solomon with so much money that he drank out of golden cups. When you have something you don’t have to pray for it. That may be true.
But it is also true that most successful people (like Solomon) tend to attribute their success to their superior intelligence, drive, or gifts. For Solomon to be as well positioned as he was and STILL desire the wisdom of God to conduct his affairs is noteworthy,, commendable, and worthy of imitation.
God’s best gifts are spiritual in nature: grace, favor, wisdom, peace, joy.
When is the last time you prayed for any of them?