Empty Handed

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. (Mark 11:24 NIV)

Have you ever watched a child getting candy from a candy jar? I love when they reach in and grab a handful, only to discover that their hand is now too big to get out of the jar. They pull and pull, shake and shimmy, but the hand is stuck. Finally, they realize they have to let go of the candy. Defeated, they watch the candy drop and take out their hand.

I think this is the perfect analogy for prayer. You see, we often bring our struggles to God. We kneel at his feet. We tell him we are ready to do better. We wait for our answer. After a little while, we decide that we should do something about this problem and begin to work on it. We get a little frustrated that God didn't help us through this—again.

But here's what really happened. We went to God, reached into the candy jar and tried to grab the answer to our prayer. We pulled and shimmied. We shook and danced. We tried to get our hands out. But we never let go of our troubles. We knelt at his feet, but never surrendered our problems. We tried to grab an answer with a fistful of problems.

Instead, we need to come to God, lay our problems at his feet and with empty hands, reach out to him. Only then can we grab on as he pulls us from the depths and makes it better. Only then can our hands be filled with blessings. —Amanda Lynch

Heavenly Father, You are loving and good. You have assured us that when we pray, you will answer. Help us to surrender our troubles to you so that we can grab onto you. Hold us in your arms. Bring us the peace and confidence that comes from knowing you are there and you care. Amen.