God Gives

May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.
Philippians 1:2 NLT

God grants grace and peace. Need more? Ask!

What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.
James 4:1‭-‬3 NLT

Lord, forgive us our many shortcomings. Grant us your grave and peace. Don’t lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil — even through the fiery, refining trials that prove what appeared to be for evil was actually for good. Help us to be willing to ask you when we don’t understand. Amen.

Then Moses went back to the Lord and protested, “Why have you brought all this trouble on your own people, Lord? Why did you send me? Ever since I came to Pharaoh as your spokesman, he has been even more brutal to your people. And you have done nothing to rescue them!”
Exodus 5:22‭-‬23 NLT

Peter exclaimed, “Lord, it’s wonderful for us to be here! If you want, I’ll make three shelters as memorials —one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” But even as he spoke, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy. Listen to him.” The disciples were terrified and fell face down on the ground. Then Jesus came over and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.” And when they looked up, Moses and Elijah were gone, and they saw only Jesus.
Matthew 17:4‭-‬8 NLT

So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.
Hebrews 4:16 NLT

God’s perfect plans will overshadow our own questions and doubts and wrong ideas about how we think that things “ought to be”. Our perspective is so limited and restricted (like tunnel vision), while He knows the height and width and length and depths. So it is good for us to ask Him questions, but we must also understand that how He answers our questions might be a drastically, fearfully, shockingly different response than we expected. He is God and we are not, after all!

Thank you, Lord, that you know better than us and that you will not destroy us for coming to you with our questions. In fact, you already know that we don’t understand your ways that are higher than ours, and that the trials and the unexpected prove to be a vehicle of opportunity to bring us close enough to inquire and receive your answers. Grant us faith to know you and trust you with our questions, and to receive your answers well. Amen.