Do we come to God with our needs or our wants?

When we come to God, how do we approach him?
Do we come to him with all our wants and desires asking him to approve and rubber stamp how we think things should be done?
Or do we come to him with ears open, wanting and willing to hear what he has for us?

When we look at it this way, we would all probably say the latter.
After all, we all know that Father has our best at heart and hearing from him should be our number one aim.
So why is it then that we can all fall into the trap of coming to God with our wants?

It seems silly when you think about it.
It can be a bit like the patient who went to the doctor with a paper cut.

The patient went to the doctor and shouted out, “I’m in extreme agony, HELP ME!”
The doctor saw the patient and immediately replied, “Yes, come in and I shall attend to your wounds.”
The patient was in fact in need of urgent medical help.
He had been in some sort of battle with something and as as such had many wounds which needed attention or he was going to die.
As the doctor attempted to see to his most urgent wounds the patient screamed out, “What are you doing? It doesn’t hurt there, the pain is coming from the end of my finger. Look.”
The doctor looked at the finger, but couldn’t see anything, so he carried on to do his life saving work. But the patient insisted, “Look at my finger!”
The doctor looked closely at the finger, and saw a tiny paper cut.
He dismissed it and again tried to save the patient’s life.
The problem was, each time the doctor tried to do his work the patient kept coming back to his finger.
It got so bad that the doctor exclaimed, “I can’t save you if you don’t let me!”

The doctor knew what needed to be done!
He had the ability and wanted to do what was needed.
But the patient wouldn’t let the doctor do his work.
How long will the patient survive if this continues?

So do we ever find ourselves in the place of the patient?
Do we come to God with what we think should be done to the extent that we do not listen to him?
God is more interested in our needs than our wants.

If God tells us to look at, or do something, are we willing to listen to him?
Do we hear his voice well enough to know that it’s him when he speaks to us?
Do we trust him enough to follow his lead?

Father,
Help us to all know your voice that much better.
Help us to trust you, that much more so that we are willing to follow You.
Help us to be obedient to your ways and to follow your promptings to us.
Amen