I think we all have wished for a Genie at times. Our wants cannot be filled by our pocketbook. The desires of our heart just seem to fall flat. Our dreams just do not seem to come true. We have wished on every star in the sky and hunted every four-leaf clover we could. Now what? How do we fix the unfixable, the empty lost dreams we had?
So many times, we turn to prayer in hopes that God will grant us our plea. Yes, plea. By the time we decide to pray for our dreams, we are desperate and filled hopelessness. I have been there. I have begged God to make a relationship work, for that dream job, or for that dream of owning a café (to name a few). I worked toward my dream, only to have it come crashing down. I did what any Christian would do, I turned to God.
These are the times that I feel I treat God like a Genie in the bottle. There have been times I have actually prayed for God to fix a relationship that was broken. I believe God could fix anything and expected Him to do so without me lifting one finger. I wish I could say those were the early days in my relationship with God, but it would not be true. I have focused so much on what is flawed, that I have failed to see what is good. I have prayed for the brokenness to be healed that I failed to see that I have not taken the time to value someone else. I have taken pride in my dreams that I failed to invite God into the begin of those dreams and wait on Him. I made God my own personal Genie, available whenever I needed Him.
Shifting focus is not easy. It has taken me weeks to sit down and write something because I was too focused on self. Allow me to say, THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH TALKING TO
GOD ABOUT ALL YOUR HOPES, DREAMS AND FAILURES. However, when we fail to treat God as the God Most High (El Elyon-Genesis, 14:17-22), see Him as Elohim (All Powerful One, Creator-Genesis 1:1-3) or as Jehovah-Jireh (The Lord will provide-Genesis 22:13-14) then we are treating Him as a genie. If we are only seeing Him as a gift provider, then He is Santa Claus. We are trying to see Him in human terms, we are failing at seeing God for who He really is.
Whatever season we find ourselves in, there is a name of God for that season. That name speaks to our heart and helps us worship Him. As we learn more about who God is, we find we are drawn to Him and He reveals more to us. Jeremiah 33:3 “Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.” We tend to be blind to all that God is early in our Christian walk. But as we read and study who He is, He reveals more and more to us.
Maybe you need Jehovah-Rapha, The Lord who heals found in Exodus 15:25-27, or Jehovah-Tsuri, the Lord my Rock found in Psalm 28:1 or maybe you are like me and need El Roi, the God who sees me found in Genesis 16. Hagar was a slave; she had no rights in her life. She was owned by Sarai, so it was Sarai controlled Hagar’s life. Sarai lacked the ability to conceive and also failed to trust God and His timing. She gave her servant to her husband so that a child could be produced. When the very thing she desired, hoped for and dreamed of actually happened, she was miserable because it did not happen to her but to her servant. You can already see problems arising between the two women. Hagar ran away. In Genesis 16:8, we find an angel of the Lord addressing Hagar BY NAME. She had value. The angel of the Lord has a conversation with her and reveals the future of her child including his name, Ishmael which means God Hears. Upon hearing all that the angel says to her, she calls God “El Roi”. There is a well between Kadesh and Bered named “Beer-lahai-roi meaning well of the Living One who sees me.
How I see God should reflect on who He really is. He is the GREAT I AM, Creator, Provider, Healer, and the list could go on. When I am too focused on me and my issues, then I fail to see Him as all that He really is. Self-focused makes it hard to be God-focused. We will find ourselves begging God instead of inviting God.
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