Deuteronomy 3:23-26 And I sought the LORD at that time, saying,… I remember many years ago one Sunday afternoon I sat in an upper room by the side of a coffin in which lay the body of a dear child — no matter whose child. A small boy came to me with a deep feeling, and, showing how far sometimes children penetrate into the deep mysteries of life and spiritual things, said to me: "Uncle, I want to ask you something." I said, "Well?" Said he, "Does God always give us what we ask Him for." And I hardly knew what to answer, and I said. "Why do you ask?" Said he, "Because I asked Him to spare my dear little cousin, and He didn't do it, and I do not know what to think about it." The child touched bottom. We have all had the same difficulty. I said to him, "Suppose that your father should send you off to boarding school, and should say to you, as he bade you good-bye, 'Now, if you want anything, just ask me for it, and I will send it to you.' You do not suppose that he meant to say that he would send you anything that would not be best for you? Now, God says, 'Ask, and it shall be given you'; but He does not say that He will give us anything that is not best for us." And I said, "Does that help you any?" And he said, "I think I see." Now, that is just as far as I have ever been able to go — "I think I see." But do you not see that right here is the very privilege of praying to God? Why, if God should give us everything we ask Him for, the very best and wisest of us would almost be afraid to pray. How many times good people have prayed for certain things, and they did not get them. Many years afterwards they saw that it would have been a thousand pities if God had given them what they asked for. When we shall climb the shining steeps of heaven, and from the light of the eternal world look back on this enigma of human life, we shall have nothing for which to praise God more than for not having given us everything for which we asked Him here on earth. He knows how to give. He sees what is best. So what first may seem one of the greatest discouragements may be a blessing in disguise. (J. A. Broadus, D. D.). Parallel Verses KJV: And I besought the LORD at that time, saying, |
    |