Lessons Learned from a Spoiled Rich Kid

Lessons Learned from a
Spoiled Rich Kid 
January 24, 2005 

by Rose Murdock

Let’s say you, as a parent, are sitting at the kitchen table reading. Your spouse is across the table from you and your eleven-year-old son walks in the room and says, "Hey Mom, Dad, thanks for getting me a new motorcycle" and walks off into his bedroom. You look at each other and discuss whether either one of you told him he could have a motorcycle. You both say no. He walks out of his bedroom, walks by again and says, "Hey, thanks again for that motorcycle" and walks outside.

Now, if he would have asked for a motorcycle and you said he could have one, and then he thanked you for it, then it wouldn't be a problem. But for him to just start thanking you for this motorcycle that he never asked for, and you never said he could have, is presumptuous to say the least. The son in this scenario is a little mixed up in assuming that his parents will give him whatever he wants--without even discussing it with them. He skipped the ‘asking’ stage and went right to the ‘thanking’ stage. Do we do this to the Lord? 

"…ye have not, because ye ask not." James 4:2

If we're expecting something from the Lord and don't seem to be getting it, could it be because we just assumed He'd give it to us without us even asking Him or discussing it with Him? Are we assuming that we don’t have to ask? If so, then we're thinking that our own wisdom and perspective is at least as good as God’s. When we ask, we're looking for input from Him—His will, His opinion, His direction etc. If we don't do this then, like the spoiled rich kid, we are presumptuous or maybe even arrogant. 

We ask God because He knows more than we do and His wisdom is greater than ours. We ask Him because if we really are interested in serving Him then we will want to please Him above all else. If we truly are a servant of the Lord, our desire will be for every area of our life to be molded into what He wants it to be. This means that we will ask not just for His permission, but for His opinion.

"…no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly." Psalms 84:11

A second assumption we might be making that would hinder us from receiving what we are expecting from the Lord, is that we assume what we are asking for is a good thing, and/or that we are walking uprightly when we are not. Might we consider, from God's perspective, if our desires are good? Maybe we need to look at the direction of our walk. Are we walking with Him, uprightly, following His path? What is our motive in where we are heading and in what we are looking to accomplish?

Making the assumption that we are wise and holy apart from God’s influence will get us into trouble. He is our wisdom and He is our righteousness. We don’t have it in ourselves apart from Him. Of course our desire can be to learn to walk in His wisdom and righteousness in a greater way each day. It is something we can do, and the more we do, the more our desires will become His desires. As we mature, we will understand certain things better, just as the eleven year old boy will when he matures. However, the way to get there is not to make arrogant assumptions, but to humbly seek Him out. 

The whole idea of asking is that you are giving the giver the right to say no. You are willing to accept whatever the giver decides. By asking, we admit that God can see the intentions of our heart clearer than we can and if there is an area that needs to be changed we choose to trust His judgment. We admit that God sees and knows all things including what is best for us and the path we are to take. If we deny that God has the right to say no then we are assuming that our wisdom and motives are higher than His. We have to be willing to expose our heart to Him and accept what He shows us as true.

So, we ask and seek the Lord rather than making assumptions that we should have, or do, certain things. When Jesus taught His disciples to pray, He started off by acknowledging the holiness of the Father’s name. "Our Father, which art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name…" (Matthew 6:9). Before we pray, we need to acknowledge the holiness of God and understand and accept the fact that He is above all. Compared to Him our viewpoints and opinions fall far short of His holiness. He is pure love, pure goodness, pure life and pure truth.

Our God is a great God that loves to give to His children, but don’t be like the spoiled rich kid who assumes that he doesn't need God's opinion or perspective. Be a child who is interested in the wisdom and the will of the Father--not one who simply uses the Father to feed his own desires.

Edited August 8, 2014