No Comprendo
By Michelle Rocker
Many times in my life, I have prayed and prayed and prayed, and felt like God was saying, “No, comprendo.” Didn’t he understand that “yes” was the best answer? Sometimes I climb on my high horse, and let God know that surely I know better then him. Haughty? You bet!
We have so many examples shown to us about the right way to pray, but sometimes I think we only concentrate on certain verses, and forget the context in which it is told to us. For example, Psalm 37:4 says, Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. We think when we don’t get exactly what we want, God isn’t listening.
In Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible he says: To delight in God is as much a privilege as a duty. He has not promised to gratify the appetites of the body, and the humors of the fancy, but the desires of the renewed, sanctified soul. What is the desire of the heart of a good man? It is this, to know, and love, and serve God. By prayer spread thy case and all thy cares before the Lord, and trust in him. We must do our duty, and then leave the event with God. The promise is very sweet: He shall bring that to pass, whatever it is, which thou has committed to him.
Our heart has to come from the right motive when we pray. We can’t tell God that he has to answer just so. We have to trust him to know the best way to answer that prayer. And just because we don’t think he answered the way we believe he should have, we assume God is saying, “No comprendo.” Didn’t he understand that we needed that new car? Come on, God, I just wanted a vacation to relax, I deserve it. I need a bigger house. I need some new clothes. I really need that job promotion. I need my husband to change. Please speak to my teenager about the way he is treating me. God, I need, I need, I want, I want, me, me, me!
So, many of our prayers are selfish and self-seeking. I heard Michael Youssef, from “Leading The Way,” preaching on Daniel being thrown into the lion’s den because he prayed three times a day. Now, I’m going to tell you that if I found out I was going to be thrown into a den of lions, I would have hidden far away, and asked God what he was thinking. I would be pleading and begging and weeping. Daniel had so much faith in God. His hope was in the Lord. He never mentioned the lion’s den in his prayer, even though he knew the consequences.
It says in Daniel 6:10: Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before. His prayer did not change. He prayed for his people. He prayed for everyone else, but not for himself, not a word about the den of lions. And to top it off: he prayed with the windows OPEN??? Talk about a man who hopes in the Lord!
Michael Youssef said that Daniel had so much faith in God, and trusted him so completely that he did not feel the need to fall on his face and beg God to keep him out of the den of lions. He knew God was in control, so he prayed a very unselfish prayer. He prayed for his fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. He praised God and thanked him. He prayed facing Jerusalem, the land that God said would be theirs again in just two more years.
He didn’t beg and say, “God, how could you let this happen now? Why now?” No, he was truly a man that was a prisoner to his hope in God. He was not a prisoner to the foreign kings or foreign gods. The beauty of this story is that God delivered Daniel from the lion’s den. When King Darius came back to the lion’s den, he was freaking out.
When he came near the den, he called to Daniel in an anguished voice, "Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?" Daniel answered, "O king, live forever! My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, O king."
The king was overjoyed and gave orders to lift Daniel out of the den. And when Daniel was lifted from the den, no wound was found on him, because he had trusted in his God. (Daniel 6:20-23) Daniel trusted DESPITE having to go THROUGH the lion’s den. Daniel practiced and lived Psalm 37:4: Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Being bipolar, I struggle with sleep if I do not have the correct mediations. One night I did not have my meds, and I began to talk to God. I begged God to please heal me of my bipolar. I reminded him that he was the great physician. I truly believed that He could heal me. I told him I had the faith.
When I laid there for another hour with no sleep claiming me, and with my racing thoughts that would not shut off, I tried a different tactic. Okay, since God wouldn’t heal me, I asked him to let me go to sleep. After all, I reminded God, in Psalm 127:2 it says, God grants sleep to those He loves. I quoted that verse and begged God for the relief of sleep to claim me. After lying there for another hour, I cried and cried until my pillow was drenched in my tears. I felt so alone. I felt like God was saying, “No comprendo.” Or even worse, saying nothing at all.
It would take me awhile before I would understand, that God did answer my prayer, just not how I wanted. He knew that I needed to go through the den of lions, rather then deliver me from the den of lions. His glory was to be revealed in a different way. He was trying to show me that I need to hope in the Lord, not hope in what I felt was the right way, or the right place, or the way I should be healed, or if I was ever to be healed. God was teaching me, and I just hadn’t figured out the lesson yet.
By Michelle Rocker
Many times in my life, I have prayed and prayed and prayed, and felt like God was saying, “No, comprendo.” Didn’t he understand that “yes” was the best answer? Sometimes I climb on my high horse, and let God know that surely I know better then him. Haughty? You bet!
We have so many examples shown to us about the right way to pray, but sometimes I think we only concentrate on certain verses, and forget the context in which it is told to us. For example, Psalm 37:4 says, Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. We think when we don’t get exactly what we want, God isn’t listening.
In Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible he says: To delight in God is as much a privilege as a duty. He has not promised to gratify the appetites of the body, and the humors of the fancy, but the desires of the renewed, sanctified soul. What is the desire of the heart of a good man? It is this, to know, and love, and serve God. By prayer spread thy case and all thy cares before the Lord, and trust in him. We must do our duty, and then leave the event with God. The promise is very sweet: He shall bring that to pass, whatever it is, which thou has committed to him.
Our heart has to come from the right motive when we pray. We can’t tell God that he has to answer just so. We have to trust him to know the best way to answer that prayer. And just because we don’t think he answered the way we believe he should have, we assume God is saying, “No comprendo.” Didn’t he understand that we needed that new car? Come on, God, I just wanted a vacation to relax, I deserve it. I need a bigger house. I need some new clothes. I really need that job promotion. I need my husband to change. Please speak to my teenager about the way he is treating me. God, I need, I need, I want, I want, me, me, me!
So, many of our prayers are selfish and self-seeking. I heard Michael Youssef, from “Leading The Way,” preaching on Daniel being thrown into the lion’s den because he prayed three times a day. Now, I’m going to tell you that if I found out I was going to be thrown into a den of lions, I would have hidden far away, and asked God what he was thinking. I would be pleading and begging and weeping. Daniel had so much faith in God. His hope was in the Lord. He never mentioned the lion’s den in his prayer, even though he knew the consequences.
It says in Daniel 6:10: Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before. His prayer did not change. He prayed for his people. He prayed for everyone else, but not for himself, not a word about the den of lions. And to top it off: he prayed with the windows OPEN??? Talk about a man who hopes in the Lord!
Michael Youssef said that Daniel had so much faith in God, and trusted him so completely that he did not feel the need to fall on his face and beg God to keep him out of the den of lions. He knew God was in control, so he prayed a very unselfish prayer. He prayed for his fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. He praised God and thanked him. He prayed facing Jerusalem, the land that God said would be theirs again in just two more years.
He didn’t beg and say, “God, how could you let this happen now? Why now?” No, he was truly a man that was a prisoner to his hope in God. He was not a prisoner to the foreign kings or foreign gods. The beauty of this story is that God delivered Daniel from the lion’s den. When King Darius came back to the lion’s den, he was freaking out.
When he came near the den, he called to Daniel in an anguished voice, "Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?" Daniel answered, "O king, live forever! My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, O king."
The king was overjoyed and gave orders to lift Daniel out of the den. And when Daniel was lifted from the den, no wound was found on him, because he had trusted in his God. (Daniel 6:20-23) Daniel trusted DESPITE having to go THROUGH the lion’s den. Daniel practiced and lived Psalm 37:4: Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Being bipolar, I struggle with sleep if I do not have the correct mediations. One night I did not have my meds, and I began to talk to God. I begged God to please heal me of my bipolar. I reminded him that he was the great physician. I truly believed that He could heal me. I told him I had the faith.
When I laid there for another hour with no sleep claiming me, and with my racing thoughts that would not shut off, I tried a different tactic. Okay, since God wouldn’t heal me, I asked him to let me go to sleep. After all, I reminded God, in Psalm 127:2 it says, God grants sleep to those He loves. I quoted that verse and begged God for the relief of sleep to claim me. After lying there for another hour, I cried and cried until my pillow was drenched in my tears. I felt so alone. I felt like God was saying, “No comprendo.” Or even worse, saying nothing at all.
It would take me awhile before I would understand, that God did answer my prayer, just not how I wanted. He knew that I needed to go through the den of lions, rather then deliver me from the den of lions. His glory was to be revealed in a different way. He was trying to show me that I need to hope in the Lord, not hope in what I felt was the right way, or the right place, or the way I should be healed, or if I was ever to be healed. God was teaching me, and I just hadn’t figured out the lesson yet.
copyright © 2008 Author. All rights reserved.