9.19.23
Hey, Calvary Fremont –
A slogan coined early in the 1900s emphasized the importance of customer satisfaction and loyalty – “The customer is always right.” The customer is King! And who doesn’t want to frequent a place where you’re the King! Who doesn’t want to be in a place where you get what you want – where you’re always right? This doesn’t happen in my marriage! This doesn’t happen at the church I pastor! I want to be in a place where I am always right! When I go to McDonald’s and say, “I want this and I want that,” I hear a “Yessir – coming right up.” If the consumer is always right, I am a consumer for life!
Yet if our food order never arrived, we would fuss and fight.
And when they get our food order wrong, we fuss and fight. “I said, ‘No pickles!’”
We live in an era when the consumer is king!
Yet obviously we don’t serve a ‘fast-food’ God. In the Kingdom of God, God is the King and not me. And I am not God’s customer. I am His son, and He is my Father. I am the subject and God is the King. Father knows best and the King is always right! If you bring a consumer mindset to prayer – you’re dead in the water because if you don’t get what you want, you fuss and fight because you’ve been trained to think that you’re always right!
Here’s our problem – we order a Jumbo Jack at McDonald’s and walk away hungry because McDonald’s isn’t Jack ‘N the Box. We seat ourselves in a movie theatre expecting to see a play and walk away disappointed because the movie theatre isn’t a Broadway stage.
McDonald’s will give you only what McDonald’s cooks.
The movie theatre will show you only what has been advertised.
God will give you only what He wills.
We have all been taught that God has three responses to prayer: YES or NO or NOT AT THIS TIME. What if McDonald’s practiced that same strategy? What if you ordered a Happy Meal and then are told to pay at the first window and that your order may be ready at the second window? What? May be? How could McDonald’s afford to stay in business with that kind of business plan? They’d go out of business in a month. And yet God has stayed in business for millennia with a YES or NO or NOT AT THIS TIME. Amazing.
Years ago we were driving through the mountains and the only radio station we could pick up was one that played Country. This was not our first choice, but since it was our only choice, we listened in. A song was playing about a fellow attending his high school reunion and seeing the girl he had once been in love with and wanted to marry. He had even prayed that God would give her to him, but it never happened. When he saw her at the reunion, he realized that the years had not been kind to her – she was a mess! The tag line of the song was, “Thank God for unanswered prayer.” I thought to myself, “That country hick has some good theology!” God had told him NO – his wife would not be at the second window.
What you pray for and request from God may not be at the second window. When it comes to prayer, you are not a consumer and God is not your short-order cook. He’s not the Burger King where you can have it your way. He is the King of Kings and He will have it His way. Yet rest assured that you are the apple of His eye, the object of His redeeming love, and that nothing can move Him from seeking your greatest good. And also remember He is Father and King. Father knows best and the King is always right.
Be blessed and stay healthy and follow Jesus – Pastor Tim
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