Obvious, isn’t it?

by Dale on Aug.23, 2005, under News, Thoughts

600,000,000 Children in Poverty

Erwin McManus wrote in The Unstoppable Force, “The starting point of living by faith is recognizing that God has revealed so much of his will that we have plenty to live by without ever hearing another word. Some things you simply do not need to pray about. When God has spoken and commanded his people, praying sometimes becomes a way of resisting God’s will rather than a way of responding to it.”

If you read the article that I linked to you would see the criteria for defining poverty. The “Growing up in Asia” report states that 600m Asian children under the age of 18 lack access to either food, safe drinking water, health or shelter. But it does get worse. Of those, 350m were described as “absolutely poor”, meaning they do not have access to two or more of a child’s essential necessities.

If you had to choose 2 of those necessities for your children to do without which 2 would you choose? It’s not an easy choice but it is a condition that is forced on 350m Asian children every single day of their lives.

I think this is probably what Erwin was talking about. How many hundreds of thousands of God’s followers around the world are praying right now to have his will revealed to them? Maybe if we listen closely, ignoring the commercials that bombard us with the things we lack, ignoring the race to succeed in our economic culture, maybe if we listen we will hear 600 million answers to the prayer “God what is your will for me?”

Dale


12 Comments for this entry

  • steve
    August 23rd, 2005 on 11:56 am

    Thanks for pointing out the article. Thanks I think…now I’m grieving about it. Just can’t get them off of my heart long enough to breathe.

    Reply
  • jen
    August 23rd, 2005 on 12:01 pm

    …..that phrase is so cliche’ anyway….’god’s will’….is it even anywhere in scripture……i think god created us with an intellect that could figure so much out and survive on our own…yet i don’t imagine he expected us to be so ignorant when it came to the obvious……WHAT TO DO FOR HIM……

    Reply
  • Dale
    August 23rd, 2005 on 12:05 pm

    Steve,

    I know what you are feeling. I spent some time in Calcutta when I was younger at an orphanage. Reading this story I had images and scents flood my mind in memory of the poverty I had seen. I can’t imagine the scope of the pain.

    Reply
  • Dale
    August 23rd, 2005 on 12:06 pm

    Jen,

    I’m with you on that. It is so easy to expect that God will hold our hand as we walk throughout this life. I think he is asking us to work alongside him in reality.

    Reply
  • Dennis
    August 24th, 2005 on 1:20 am

    Maybe we should start to ask if it is God’s will for us to do the things we want to (eating dinner, going on vacation, buying a new car) and just start presuming it is His will to do the things we (or our flesh) do not want to do (give $acrificially, go help a mission overseas, etc.). We usually presume that the things we want are ok, but when something big and uncomfortable to our flesh is before us, now we better stop and ask God to reveal if it is His will.

    Reply
  • Kat
    August 24th, 2005 on 10:56 am

    I saw the author and just had to say… he challanges the regular thinking of a christian. I am enjoying Barbarian Way. It is really getting me to think about how I not only think but how I live my everyday life.

    Reply
  • Dale
    August 24th, 2005 on 12:38 pm

    Dennis,

    I agree wholeheartedly. Sacrificing our needs and wants and giving to others is central to God’s character. The more we know that the more we know him.

    Reply
  • karlenerogers
    August 25th, 2005 on 7:01 am

    The problem (or is it a problem) is that God reveals himself this way…reveals needs , needs for us to do something about and the good part is is…we will not be “right ” unless we DO something with the knowlegde that God gives us. So we need to move , act , have faith. Faith is action, moving toward something!!
    Not just talking about it! Amen??

    Reply
  • dennae rogers
    August 25th, 2005 on 9:46 pm

    graet comments and post..I have missed reading what is on your heart Dale!

    I have been working at starbucks for a week now and my stomach churns every time I hear someone say, “I NEED a…” I just think, “you have no clue what need is, you certainly don’t NEED a $4 coffee beverage…”

    I am 100% in agreement with all of you when it comes to praying about God’s will…why do we pray about whether or not we should meet people’s needs, but never whisper a prayer about meeting our wants. It is so backwards!

    That article broke my heart…but…I am living in a broken world…I think it just needs to stay broken as long as I am living on earth.

    Reply
  • Dale
    August 26th, 2005 on 2:41 pm

    Karlene,

    I would say that hearing God can’t happen w/o motion and that by choosing inactivity we choose to block our ears to what He is saying.

    Reply
  • Dale
    August 26th, 2005 on 2:45 pm

    Denne,

    It is so great to hear your voice even if it is only cyber!

    I hadn’t thought of the need vs. want discussion. Imagine how many resources we would have available for God’s kingdom if we applied the same tests to our wants and desires that we apply finding God’s will.

    How many times before indulging our wants to we take the stance “I won’t move on this (or indulge my desires) until I hear very clearly that God wants me to.” It is too bad that this prayer seems to be saved for the times when obedience is called for.

    I may do a post on this separately … you’ve got me thinking.

    Great to hear from u again!
    U are missed.

    Dale

    Reply
  • Brent Fooks
    August 29th, 2005 on 7:51 am

    Dale,

    Totally agree…actually was reading about the same thoughts in my travels this month. Don Miller states in his book “Blue Like Jazz”…”Can you imagine if Christians actually believed that God was trying to recue us from the pit of our self-addiction? If we believed the right things, the true things (what the Bible says to do Ephesians 5:9-12 in the Message translation especially) there wouldn’t be very many problems on earth.” (parenthesis are my thoughts)…and again he states, “the trouble with deep belief is that it costs something. And there is something inside of me, some selfish beast of a subtle thing that doesn’t like the truth at all because it carries responsibility, and if I actually believe these things I have to do something about them.”

    Lord, help me not be selfish, and actually do something about the truth revealed here. Forgive me for my “self-addiction”

    Brent

    Reply

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