Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.”
"Dad, I want you to do whatever I ask you to do."
Could you ever imagine saying that you your father? I know that I would never think of telling my father that. I don't even want to imagine what his response would be.
Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.”
But this is exactly what James and John asked of Jesus. I had to read this line twice to make sure I got it right. After the first read I assumed that I had read it wrong and it was really Jesus who was telling James and John to do whatever he asks. That would make more sense. So I read it again. I had it right the first time. James and John were really bossing around Jesus. I'm really not sure what they were thinking right then.
So, this is something that I wouldn't even think about saying to my earthly father, I am appalled when James and John say it to Jesus but yet I do the same thing to my heavenly father very often without even realizing it.
How often while, I am praying I tell God exactly what I need him to do and exactly how he should solve my problems or other problems of the world. Do I really do that? Do I really tell the Lord what to do? Yeah, I do. Almost every time that I pray. It sounds pretty ridiculous when you look at it like that doesn't it? How could I (just me), tell Him (the maker of creation) what to do?
Instead of telling Him what to do we should be asking him what we should do. When we pray we should be giving ourselves and our problems to the Lord. Putting our problems in his hands then listening for what he wants us to do.
This is so hard. It goes against everything that I want to do. I want to be in control. I want to have the power. I want to fix things. But that is not the way it is with the Lord. With him we are not in charge. We do not tell him what to do, he tells us what to do.
Dear Lord, What do you want me to do?
