"Asking For Trouble?"

July 18, 2010

Luke 10:38-42

Amos 8:1-12

Reverend Williams Nickels

Do you remember when the disciples asked Christ to teach them to pray?

He responded by lining out what we call The Lord’s Prayer: Our Father, who art in heaven… 

And then Christ went on… telling them, with some passion, to: Ask, seek, knock! 

Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 

It was a provocative thing for Christ to say.

            It certainly has provoked some thought in me.

Truth is, we do not always get from God the things for which we ask.

            But, I believe, we get them often enough.

We receive them frequently enough that it behooves us to be careful when we ask God for something…

to be aware of what we’re asking… and of why we’re asking for those things…

of whether they are, in fact, good things for us to be requesting… and things we actually want.

In this Sunday’s reading from Amos we heard the prophet relating questions he’d heard some of his people asking…

asking one another, perhaps they thought… but, in fact, asking Someone they may not have realized they were speaking to – God, the Lord of time!

We are so eager… to make the measure small and the money large… to deal deceitfully with false balances and sacks of grain half-filled with chaff. 

We’re ready now to get on with ripping off the poor and taking advantage of the needy… with stuffing our pockets from what we strip from theirs.  Can we?  Can we? 

We are ready!  When’s this Sabbath going to end?

They were asking not only to be able to get back to work –

they were yearning to get on with neglecting Israel’s God-given law…

with ignoring their responsibilities to their neighbors, their relationship with God…

with pushing God off to the edges, somewhere…

with shutting themselves off from God.

                        That’s not what they said.  But it’s what they were asking.

            They were, in fact, asking for big trouble…

whether they realized it or not… whether they understood it or not.  They were.

            You are looking for the day to start?

            It will, but it won’t be a good day for you.

            You and everything else in your world will be shaken in it.

Darkness will descend, and your glee over your ill-gained goods will become great grief; your revelry will be replaced by lamentation.

There will be a famine in the land… a great hunger that will go unmet, unrelieved… a hunger for God… for the sound of God’s voice, for some sense of God’s presence…

a gnawing hunger for which you’ll find no relief… you, who have so foolishly been asking for just that kind of trouble.

Upset, darkness, grief and unrelieved hunger! – that sounds like a sentence being imposed for criminal acts.

                        And, I suppose it could be understood as such.

But… isn’t it all essentially what they were asking for?

They wanted God out of the way… God’s directives for sound living and responsible relationship out of sight, out of mind.

And they wanted what they thought that would mean for them – more money, lavish homes, fancy chariots, great parties.

That it, in fact, would mean that their lives would be turned upside down and that they’d fall tumbling into a terrible spiritual darkness evidently didn’t occur to them.

God – would you please step aside?

You know, while it could have been perceived by the people as punishment for their irresponsible behavior, I think it actually was intended as discipline.

It was meant to instruct that foolish people, who seemed so blind to what they were doing.

It was meant to help them see what they were actually asking for, and to realize what it would mean to receive it.

If they never experienced the consequences of wanting God out of their way, they’d never know how horrible it could be to actually get that. 

And, I suppose they’d never realize what an amazing grace it is to know that God was present in their lives.

Have you ever wished that God was out of your way, was out of your life? 

Maybe some of us have.  Maybe each of us has at some point.

But, would you really want to live without God… without the sense that God was anywhere about you, anyway involved in what was happening in your life, in your world?

Honestly, I think that for me, to feel the loss of God’s presence… to feel a sustained sense of God being nowhere nearby… would be deeply unbalancing, upsetting, threatening.

I think of persons I’ve known who have suffered the gradual loss of memory that a disease like Alzheimer’s brings…

how hard it has seemed for them to feel themselves losing their mental grip upon things, losing their assurance that what had always been there was still in place.  How hard.  How terrible.

I’ve also been struck by the way certain things, memories, awarenesses, can persist in people suffering from such diseases.

They may be nearly unable to speak, but if someone visiting starts to offer the Lord’s Prayer, they join in… and show a calmed demeanor when they’ve finished.

Somehow, the things of God often seem to lodge very deeply within us.

Jesus one day came to lodge at the home of a woman named Martha.

            Both she and her sister Mary were dedicated to the Lord;

but that day Mary realized she had a special opportunity to be with and to learn from the Master.

Accepting it, she sat before Christ listening… receiving his word as a gift she’d been offered.

It was all she wanted, all she was asking for. 

And it was a good thing to want and to ask for.

And, as Christ said, having received it, she would not have it taken from her.

So now I will ask you this: What is it that you are asking of God… and why are you asking God for it?

            Is it possible that, in some way, you are actually asking for trouble?

If so, wouldn’t you really rather be asking for something else…

something you really want, something you really need…

something that will strengthen your relationship with God… deepen your sense of intimacy with Christ… and bring you joy in the presence of the Spirit…

something that will promote the well-being of others and of your own soul, just the same?

These may be important questions for us to consider in light of the readings put before us this morning.

We may not want to reflect on them; but it may be good for us to do so.

We may want to seek the help of a spiritual friend as we reflect on the questions… or the help, at least, of the Holy Spirit.

If, by chance, the Spirit seems to be scarce, it could be because you’ve squeezed it out of your awareness.

And if you sense yourselves spiritually dry, it could be God’s way or reminding you of what you really need, of what God is to you.

Dryness, thirst, and hunger for God often lead us to ask, seek, and knock.