God is Not Our Own Personal Butler

It might sound appealing, but God is not our own personal butler! He’s with us 24/7, but He’s not on call to grant our every want and desire.

Speaking of granting wishes, we have the cutest puppy and our little Cayenne has taken “it’s all about me” to a new level.

He’s three years old, but he’ll always be a baby to us. He’s the most affectionate loving dog ever. But he’s developed this little habit.

It started out innocent enough. We hung a little bell on our back door and taught him to ring the bell whenever he has to go outside to do his “business.”

Trouble is, somehow in his cute little mind, the bell ringing has morphed into “I ring that bell and I can get anything I want!”

It took us a little while to figure out what he was doing. He would ring the bell, one of us would take him outside and sometimes, he’d do nothing. We’d take him back inside, curious about the failed bathroom attempt, and then he’d run to the bottom of the stairs, for instance, begging to come upstairs to my office.

Now he is ringing the bell for everything – to go outside or upstairs, to get him some water, feed him…everything!

What Are We? His Butler?

Cayenne is a funny one alright, but how often do we think of God as our own personal butler? Maybe we don’t even realize it sometimes. We ask, but more importantly, we don’t pray for His perfect will to be done (most of all.) Oops!

I want that new job, no matter what.

No matter how he treats me, I want to marry my boyfriend.

I want it my way all the time, no matter what.

The reality is we don’t always get our way. We may summon our personal butler, God, but He doesn’t always seem to cooperate, does He?

First off, we need to quit thinking of Him as a butler.

Sorry prosperity preachers, teaching your congregations that God will prosper them is simply wrong.

We need to loosen that grip of our inner control freak. (It’s a tendency in all of us.)

We aren’t cute little puppies that can ring a bell and God comes running to meet all of our needs.

Only God is in control. The timing of every detail in our lives is in His hands, from our birth until we breathe our last breath. God is in the driver’s seat, from the beginning of time to the end.

So, please let go.

Lose that inner bell ringer in your life and, through prayer, put your trust in God completely.

Father God, please help me in my weakness when I lose sight of Your perfect will. I often fall short of Your best.

My desire is to please and completely trust You. I know that everything works together for good, and to bring glory and honor to You. When I become shortsighted, help me to release the strongholds in my life that distract me from Your grace. Help me to be content, no matter what the circumstances. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.