“Fear not, little flock…”
“…for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”
This verse (found in Luke 12:32) has woken me up all week. It’s been haunting me like the melody of a song to which I’ve forgotten the words. It is His desire to give us the Kingdom. What he asked us to pray (Thy Kingdom come) he also desires to offer.
Have you ever felt like your prayers were trying to coax God into some route of action? Not the prayers that you’re pretty sure He won’t answer because they reveal how spoiled and selfish you are (e.g. God, could you maybe…deliver an ipad to my house…please? - I may or may not have uttered that in my heart…sad, I know), but the prayers that you know reverberate close to His heart. Prayers for healing, for restoration, for change. Prayers that you and the community you love may be a part of something truly “of God”, truly supernatural and life-altering. Even prayers that His Kingdom would come and His will would be done here on earth as it is in heaven.
This verse shows something amazing about the Father’s heart: what He’s asked us to seek, he desires to give us. Even more than that: He desires to give us the Kingdom more than we desire to see it here. Our prayers are not trying to nudge a stubborn God forward; He wants His kingdom to come. But why, then, do we fail to see it sometimes?
One clue might be in the context here. Jesus drops this statement in the midst of a sobering challenge to those listening: sell your things, give to the needy, be ready for the master’s return. Store up treasure in heaven; value my kingdom more than everything the world considers valuable. He shares with them how valuable they are to the Father and how He longs to give them his kingdom; but he never promises these things without cost.
As I’ve been sitting on these thoughts, one reality has hit me pretty hard: I often take more comfort in the things of this world than I do that I’m loved by the Father, the very same Father who wants to share His kingdom and all it entails with me. Jesus urges his audience not to be afraid. Afraid of what? Afraid that they are not valuable enough to God to trust him to take care of them.
Do I trust his love enough to love the world less? Do I believe Him?
