Like A Hen On A Cue Ball

Since tonight is a time that we devote to lifting our praises and our prayer requests to God, let’s think about what we ask God for. I am sure that everyone of us has had a prayer that we prayed and asked God for some kind of help, and it seemed like our prayer was never heard. Have you ever had that experience?

Let’s begin tonight with what the psalmist writes in Psalm 4:1. “Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have relieved me in my distress; Be gracious to me and hear my prayer.”

Have you ever felt that way? You want to scream out at God because you think He’s not listening to you when you pray and ask Him for help. I titled this devotional “Like a Hen on a Cue Ball.” You might have heard it said in a different way. “Like a Hen on a Turnip.”

If you are not from east Texas or descended from those who were raised in 'those parts', or you’re not from the country, you probably have no idea of what "like a hen on a cue ball" or “like a hen on a turnip” means. Before we go any further, let’s pause and ask what “a hen on a cue ball” or “a hen on a turnip” could mean.

"Like a hen on a cue ball or turnip" is an old saying that no matter what you do, there will never be a result. It’s not going to happen. When it’s the season for raising little chicks, a hen will sit on anything that comes close to looking like an egg—a cue ball, a turnip, a light bulb, whatever. That hen can sit on a cue ball or turnip for days, weeks or months and that cue ball or turnip is not going to hatch. The impossible needs to be a reality. It’s not going to happen. So that old saying is a gracious way of saying, “It’s not going to happen.” “There will never be a result from it.”

Praying can be like a hen on a cue ball if you are asking GOD for something that you should not be asking for. If your prayer is for something you should not have, HE will not answer your prayer. Or let’s say, He WILL answer your prayer but the answer is NO or NOT RIGHT NOW. James 4:3 says, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, (you ask amiss), so that you may spend it on your pleasures.”

Your prayer for things that are not in GOD'S will is futile. If you are needing a new car to get to work, don't pray for a Mercedes. If you need a day off to rest, don't pray for a month-long cruise across the Pacific.

GOD can do anything HE desires and can give you more than you pray for or deserve. Your desires need to be in alignment with GOD. GOD provides what we need, when we need it. HE is generous to us and will protect and provide as HE deems necessary.

Here’s something I read that is so true, "Non-Christians don’t pray, because they’re afraid God is there. Christians don’t pray because they’re afraid God is not there, and they don’t want to lose their faith." John encourages us to pray and to approach God confidently, because God is there. He says in 1 John 5:14. “This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.”

But be careful who you call on to pray as well.

A wife invited some people to dinner.

At the table, she turned to their six-year-old daughter and said,

"Would you like to say the blessing?"

"I wouldn’t know what to say," the girl replied.

"Just say what you hear Mommy say," the wife answered.

The daughter bowed her head and said,

"Lord, why on earth did I invite all these people to dinner?"

When you pray, don't sit on a cue ball. Understand what you need is usually more basic than what you desire. Expect GOD to answer your prayer. If you don't expect HIM to answer your prayer, why are you praying for it?

GOD wants you to have all you need, when you need it. Depend on GOD to take care of your needs. Get off the cue ball and pray a prayer of thanks for all those times GOD has given you what you needed when you prayed for it and for so much more HE provided for you that you never had to pray for.