This Isn't What I Ordered

So, I'm taking the title for today's blog from a sermon by D.R. Carlson that I find particularly poignant and meaningful for me. In the sermon he talks about prayer. Lots of times we expect prayer to work like a drive through… place our order and drive around to pick it up at the second window. Now once we get to that pick up window, we look inside the bag to make sure everything is as it should be. Most of the time, it’s exactly what we have asked for… but sometimes it’s not right.

I worked at a fast food place for nearly four years. There were a lot of wrong orders, and there were as many reasons for the order to be wrong as there were fries in the fry bin. The order taker pressed the wrong button, the kitchen made the wrong special order, the right food went into the wrong bag or even the customer didn’t ask for what they really wanted… but no matter what went wrong or who’s “fault” it was, there was always a reaction from the customer.

Sometimes they would calmly tell you that this was NOT what they had ordered and then ask to have it corrected. Sometimes they would talk down to you like you were simple for not being able to get their “simple” request, even if the “fault” was not yours. More often than not, there was anger. Which seems so silly when you’re talking about a burger with no ketchup, but really… it was about what they were expecting and their disappointment in not getting what they wanted.

Which makes me think of prayer in a new way. Is God my Drive Thru Server? Do I have a right to get snippy with him when instead of a cheeseburger he gives me a salad? If I were dealing with a person face to face I would probably say “HEY! This isn’t what I ordered!” And if they said, “Lady, you could use the salad!” I might get angry at the slight. But what about with God? What about when I get to the window and all I get is an empty bag? What about when God just says “No”?

How many times in my life have I prayed for something that looked good but would have been so bad for me? How many times has God given me something else instead? When He says “No” to what I want, at that moment I don’t understand why. I get angry and upset and feel slighted… but then later, when I look back and see that the “No” led to something wonderful that I wouldn’t have had if I had gotten a “Yes” the first time around, I get it. At least, I get it until the next empty bag.

So here I sit with another empty bag, another unanswered prayer. But this time… I’m not angry. I am sad of course, and disappointed, because I wanted something that I didn’t get – I’m only human. This time though, I’m trying to focus on the fact that my bag is empty because God has something for me that won’t fit in the bag that I’ve given Him. He has something greater than what I’ve asked for just waiting for me. I just have to be patient.