KneEmail - a devotional by Mike Benson associated with Forthright Magazine
Arrogance
I WAS SPEAKING at a summer camp and drove into town late one night to get a snack...
About the only place open was McDonald's, so I hit the drive-through. When it was my turn, I rolled down the window and gave my order: "Yes, I'll have a large yogurt twist in a cup and some McDonaldland cookies." The lady repeated my order over a speaker system that had more static than a dryer full of double knit bowling shirts.
I drove up to the window and handed the lady my money. She handed me a box of cookies and small water cup of yogurt. I handed the cup of yogurt back to her and reminded her that I had ordered the large cup, not the small size. She took the cup back inside, and I waited. While she was gone, the clothes I was wearing went out of style and came back in. She came back carrying the forty-two-ounce, super-duper-size drink cup filled with yogurt. In one motion, she hoisted the cup with both hands and kicked open the drive-through window. The window flew open, and she nearly dropped the three pounds of yogurt in my lap. I regained my composure and asked if the large size comes with a free pair of Depends. "If I drink all of this," I said, "I'll need them."
She started to close the window, but I stopped her. "Seriously, ma'am, do I get a spoon with the yogurt?" "A spoon?" she said. I paused and said, "Yeah, you know, it's white, has a handle, and is concave on one end." Her expression never changed; she just closed the window and was gone long enough for me to change my oil and rotate my tires. Yogurt melting, cookies half-eaten, the window opened again. She held out a plastic spoon in an environmentally safe plastic wrapper and asked me, "Is this it?"
THOUGHT: When we pray, we can't be presumptuous. God is not a drive-through window. We can't expect to roll up to God arrogantly assuming that He will answer our prayer exactly as we want it. If we want our prayers to be powerful and effective, we have to pray and live in harmony with the will of God. (David Edwards)
KneEmail: "You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures" (Jas. 4:3; Psm. 66:18).