Sunday, November 23, 2014

ask, as a command

" It's been a long time since we had a tea-date," He whispered as I half-dozed between hitting "snooze" and the alarm going off. And I realized He was right. I had not made a date with God in a terribly long time. I hadn't meant to ignore him - life just gets in the way sometimes. It was a Thursday so no chance to carve out any time today, but Friday morning could still be reserved. "Ok," I said as I turned off the alarm, "I'll see you tomorrow morning." All day, I found myself thinking about that date. And I tried to prepare the way I might for a planned date with my husband. I began to anticipate with joy the planned time with God.

In the morning, after driving the kids to school and picking up a tea at Tim Hortons, I hurried home, found my slippers and pulled up to the table with a Bible. I paused. I had no idea where I should read. I started talking out loud to God as I thumbed through the pages. I told Him how I had missed our time together - how I had gotten distracted with busyness. Glancing down, I saw the Bible was open to John 15. "Oh, boring, I thought, almost without realizing - "the vine, the branches, abide...nothing new here."  Still I began to skim through, then read more carefully. I read right through to the end of chapter 16. When I stopped, I realized two phrases stood out - they stood out because they were repeated. Each appears in chapter 15 and again in 16. Isn't it cool how God has wired our brain to notice - even identify with things that we have seen before?

The first phrase that caught my attention was, "..that your joy may be full." In chapter 15:11, Jesus is telling them why He has urged them to obey his commands - so that His joy may be in them, and their joy may be full. Easy enough - obey His commands for full joy. Here, His command seems to be to love one another. I already knew this was one of the main themes of John 15. However, in chapter 16:24, it follows, "Ask and you will receive.." Here, Jesus seems to be saying that one of the keys to full joy is asking for things. "Interesting," I thought, but I hadn't quite grasped it yet - and God knew it. He drew my attention to the next repeated phrase - "whatever you ask the Father in my name, He may (will) give you." In chapter 16, this is right before the "joy" phrase. Jesus has just talked with his disciples about his leaving - how they will have sorrow, but it is necessary so that the Holy Spirit will come. He comforts them by looking forward to the day when they will be together again - on the other side of that sorrow. Then He reminds them that anything they ask will be given. It seems He admonished them a little, saying, "Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full." There it was! A command. Is God telling me He wants me to ask for things? I had always been taught a healthy (I thought) fear of selfish prayers that were nothing more than shopping lists for God. I was starting to see a bit of error there, though. Coupled with sayings like, "God helps those who help themselves," and "All we can do is pray," we are on dangerous ground   Jesus knew self-sufficiency would be one of the biggest joy-stealers his disciples would face after He left. They would struggle to go to God without Jesus, as a physical person, there to see, touch. Connecting with God via the Holy Spirit requires training our spiritual muscles. Lights were beginning to come on in my head - wow, "ask" as a command. But I still hadn't checked out the other reference for that 2nd phrase - the one about God giving us whatever we ask. I flipped back to chapter 15:16,17. It says, "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in my name He may give you.  These things I command you, that you love one another." I always thought the command, here was to love one another, but it says "these things" so what are the commands? If verse 17 is saying that He commands these things to help us love one another, then verse 16 must be the commands. That would mean Jesus was commanding his disciples to 1. bear fruit, 2. keep that fruit, and 3. ask for things. I was overwhelmed. I asked God what He wanted me to ask for, reminding Him that it is He who gives me the desires of my heart. Then I felt very strongly what I should ask. So I did. And it's the biggest physical thing I have ever purposefully asked of God. I guess I'll write about it when it happens.

I should just say that I was reading a New King James Version for this. And when I looked this up in a couple of other versions to write about it, I noticed that none of the others I checked has "command" as a plural in 15:16,  however, since it was really just confirmation of what God had already shown me in chapter 16, I wouldn't be bothered if only the version I "happened" to be reading puts it this way.

No comments: