Is God Stingy?

The list is long. Name after name; people who need prayer. Sometimes I look at the list and want to not even start.

One of those times happened the other day. I forced myself to pray for the first few but couldn’t keep going. I found myself thinking, “If only God would let me know which people and circumstances are worth praying about.” I felt inside that if I prayed for 100 people, only two or three of those prayers would be answered. The thought hit me: “I think my core belief is that God rations his answers!”

I’ve probably operated on such a false belief much of my life. I’ve imagined God sitting in heaven, looking at his clipboard and saying, “You got an answer to prayer last week. It’s going to be a while before I can let you have another turn.”

Any concept of God as stingy goes against everything he claims in his Word. Now that I’ve identified my false belief, I’m realizing that the truth is that I’m the one stingy with my prayers. Of course it makes me feel God is stingy with his answers!

The truth is found in James 4:2, “You do not have because you do not ask.” It’s not that God isn’t answering; it’s that I’m not persevering in asking.

“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you” John 15:7 (NASB1995).