A Mother's misguided prayer...

Matthew 20:20- Then came to him the mother of Zebedee's children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him.

20:21- And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom.

20:22- But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able.

20:23- And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father. 

My (new) Pastor taught out of this text on Sunday night and titled it: 

"A Mother's misguided prayer." 

Sunday being Mother's day I had already been contemplating my own Mother and what she meant to me. The choir sang Sunday morning a song about Mothers and part of the chorus said "you were there to hold me when my heart was in pain" or something like that and I remembered all the nights of crying in my Mom's arms not understanding why my life was going the way it was. Not understanding why God would not give me a child. My Mom would reassure me that God had a plan and promise me that one day I'd look back and see that. In the verses above Zebedees wife, (who historically is shown to be an Aunt of Jesus Christ, meaning her sons were Jesus cousins) came to Jesus and asked him something for her sons. She wanted her sons to be high in Jesus kingdom. What Mother wouldn't want great things for her sons? Jesus pointed out that  Zebedee's wife did not understand what she was asking of the Lord. This Mother was thinking of her sons being close to the Lord Jesus Christ. What she was not considering was the cost of her children being close to the Lord. Throughout the Bible and throughout history people have paid a high price for their closeness with the Lord. The Apostles were murdered, hung, beheaded for their close walk with the Lord. Men like Martin Luther and Paul Bunyan were persecuted and thrown in jail. The road to closeness with the Lord is not always an easy one. Sometimes God puts us through trials as he shapes us and molds us into what he wants us to be. Fanny Crosby, one of the great hymn writers of all times was blind, yet she never ceased to thank the Lord for her blindness. Many great hymns were penned out of a broken heart. Should we ask God not to let our children go through pain, that he give them an easy road? To ask this of God would be to possibly miss out on the great things God has for our children's lives. The great people he would make them to be for him. Of course no Mother wants her child to suffer, but we as Mother's must ask God to give us the strength and courage to let him mold our children, our loved ones into what he wants them to be. That brought me back again to my own Mother. Of course she would have loved to take away my pain in infertility. She could have given me money and said here, go have everything done that you can. She didn't though. She held my hand and prayed for me and encouraged me, and wiped my tears. I'm not saying that I've been through the ultimate trial, because I know I haven't. I have seen and continue to see others with great trials looming over them. I also know though that God used my trial to show me my own weakness. To teach me to depend on him. I am glad that my mother let God work in my life and helped me to trust God's plan. I hope and pray when the time comes for God to work in Jakob's life that I can trust God's hand and let him mold my precious son into the young man that He can use and that will make a difference in eternity. 

(I cannot do justice to the message Pastor Reed taught, but those are some thoughts

that I got out of it and wanted to share)