Did You Place Your Order And Move On

I bet all of us are familiar with placing an order at a drive-thru. You roll up to the menu, give your order, and then drive around to pay and pick up your order. A similar process happens when I place an order online. I go to the website, put my items in my shopping cart, and then put in my shipping and billing address and check out.

In both situations, I placed my order and never gave it another thought. Once I get a confirmation of my order, I know it has been received, and the process has started. The results of my order might vary. There have been times when I placed an order at the drive-thru, and when I picked up my order, it wasn’t exactly what I ordered.

Recently, I was listening to a podcast, and the guy was recalling placing an order for a hot coffee. When they handed him his order, he noticed it had ice in it, but thought they had given him an ice coffee instead, and he was fine with that. However, as he was driving down the road, he took a sip and was pleasantly surprised that it was a Coke instead of coffee.

Sometimes our orders get lost before they reach us. My husband placed an order a couple of weeks ago, and he had been waiting on it since it was some parts he needed. He checked in daily to see the progress, and it showed that the package was supposed to be delivered on Saturday. However, it snowed then, and he got an email that said the package was delayed. Although he was irritated, he was fine with the package coming a few days late. Except, it didn’t come at all.

Finally, after waiting another week, he canceled the first order and placed a new order. That order reached him quickly, and he was happy to finally have his parts.

In our prayer lives, we usually have a request which is similar to placing an order. We praise the Lord and ask for forgiveness for our sins, and tucked inside most prayers is a request. The request might be for healing; it could be for help with finding a job, direction on what to do about a situation, help with our finances, marital issues, etc.

We are told to pray about ALL things. Nothing is too big or too small for the Lord. Many times we place our request and move on. The request (order) is placed, and we don’t want to bother the Lord by nagging Him about our request.

Did you know that Elijah prayed for rain SEVEN times before the Lord answered him?

1 Kings 18:41-45

⁴¹ Then Elijah said to Ahab, “Go get something to eat and drink, for I hear a mighty rainstorm coming!” ⁴² So Ahab went to eat and drink. But Elijah climbed to the top of Mount Carmel and bowed low to the ground and prayed with his face between his knees. ⁴³ Then he said to his servant, “Go and look out toward the sea.” The servant went and looked, then returned to Elijah and said, “I didn’t see anything.” Seven times Elijah told him to go and look. ⁴⁴ Finally the seventh time, his servant told him, “I saw a little cloud about the size of a man’s hand rising from the sea.” Then Elijah shouted, “Hurry to Ahab and tell him, ‘Climb into your chariot and go back home. If you don’t hurry, the rain will stop you!’” ⁴⁵ And soon the sky was black with clouds. A heavy wind brought a terrific rainstorm, and Ahab left quickly for Jezreel.

The Lord is not bothered by our requests. He does not answer us on our time frame, it will always be in His time.

Even though the Lord hears our requests, He might surprise you with a Coke instead of coffee. His ways don’t always match what we think we need. And there are other times when you might think that your request has gotten lost somewhere along the way. Did you get a confirmation?

Keep praying, keep seeking, and keep checking back with the Lord to see if you need to modify your request. Remember, even an unanswered prayer is really an answer. He knows what is best for us, and for that, I am truly grateful.

To GOD Goes The Glory!

Have A Blessed Day!