Do You Want Super Sweet Strawberries?
Once upon a time there was a farmer who wanted to grow strawberry plants in his garden. After he put the small plants in the ground, he prayed, “God my plants need rain to begin them growth so please let it rain.” The next morning a gentle rain shower provided water for the plants. He then prayed, “Okay God, now my plants need the warmth of the sun.” The sun shone brightly all afternoon. The farmer knew that to grow, his plants needed cool damp nights to take in carbon dioxide that is essential to convert sunlight energy into chemical energy. So, he prayed for cool nights, and the nights were cool and damp, just what the plants needed. This process went on for weeks, with the farmer praying for what he thought was necessary for the plants. But soon the strawberry plants stopped growing, and they wilted and died.
One day at down at the feed store the farmer shared his sadness with a friend, who was also a farmer. This other farmer said that he also planted strawberries, and this year’s plants were producing super sweet deep red berries, maybe the sweetest in years. The farmer whose plants wilted asked for advice. His friend answered this way: I plant my berries at the proper time and then I simply pray, “God, you know what my plants need for proper growth so please send what is needed.” I put no conditions on what God needs to do.
That story is fictitious, but it is a story of how we sometimes pray. We take our request to God and then we proceed to give Him the ways we want Him to answer. It is as if we are asking God to bless and prosper our plans rather than asking Him to reveal His plans to us. We need to entrust our lives, and yes, our plans as well, to God. It is He who knows best.
In Psalm 25:5-6 we read – “Make me to know your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all day long.”
“Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track” (Proverbs 3:5-6, MSG).
And, still in Proverbs, we read these words – “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purposes that prevail” (19:21).
Jesus shows us how to pray and what to pray – “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” He goes on to pray “Give us this day, our daily bread.” This daily bread reference would have been understood by Jesus’ early followers because it directly pointed back to the Old Testament in which God miraculously supplied the Israelites in the wilderness with that day’s manna from heaven. (Exodus 16, shorter version in Numbers 11:1-9)
Do you want super sweet strawberries? Then ask God to bring sunshine, rain, and cool nights when those conditions are most needed, not when you most want them! Don’t put a lid on what God can and will do.
