DENNIS GINGERICH

Things don’t always turn out as we plan. Health, finances, relationships, careers and our kids don’t always follow the script we’ve written for them. We always have choices. We can complain to anyone who will listen. We can point fingers of blame toward everyone around us. We can get angry at God. We can mope. We can pout.

Are there other options? Of course! Alice’s third directive to her husband Bob who passed it on to Roger was simply, Pray; don’t pout. In case you didn’t know, I’m referring back to the recent winner of a book I read, The Janitor, by Todd Hopkins and Ray Hilbert. Bob (the Janitor) regularly passed on to Roger (the CEO) in their weekly evening interactions, six axioms or directives that his late wife Alice shared with him during the time he used to lead a company during his younger years. The first principle was about Recharge vs. Discharge and the second was about Family—Blessing or Responsibility?  This one is about choosing either to pray or to default to pouting.

Maybe you don’t know what to pray or how to pray when things start to unravel. The beauty of prayer is that God already knows your situation. He even knows what tomorrow holds. He is just waiting for you to let Him help you. So, you can just talk to Him and ask Him to give you clear insight into the challenges you are having at work, at home, in your relationships, or in your personal life.

I love King Solomon’s prayer found in the Hebrew Bible. His father David, a legendary king in Israel’s history, had just died and Solomon was feeling totally inadequate to fill his shoes. Here’s some snippets of how Solomon prayed, “Now, O Lord my God, you have made me king instead of my father, David, but I am like a little child who doesn’t know his way around…Give me an understanding heart so that I can govern your people well and know the difference between right and wrong. For who by himself is able to govern this great people of yours?” (1 Kings 3:7-9).

Listen to God’s response to this humble prayer for wisdom: “The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for wisdom. So God replied, ‘Because you have asked for wisdom in governing my people with justice and have not asked for a long life or wealth or the death of your enemies—I will give you what you asked for! I will give you a wise and understanding heart such as no one else has had or ever will have! And I will also give you what you did not ask for—riches and fame! No other king in all the world will be compared to you for the rest of your life!'” (1 Kings 3:7-13).

God still answers that same type of prayer. You will never go wrong asking for wisdom and discernment. When your plate is full and life is overwhelming, God can make all the difference in the world. Whatever you may be facing in your life today—pray; don’t pout.

QUESTION: What is one thing you will pray about today? If you don’t mind, share it with our readers in the Comment section below. Thanks!