On His Terms, Not Ours
"Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts." — James 4:3
The Problem in One Sentence
Here is the difficulty with almost everything taught about covenant and promise in comfortable churches:
Most people want to make a covenant with the Lord on their terms, not on God's terms.
They want health. They want wealth. They want comfort, and the satisfaction of desires that are frankly fleshly. And they want a God who will bind Himself to deliver those things on request.
James names it exactly:
"Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts." (James 4:3)
Not you did not ask. Not you lacked faith. You asked amiss. The request itself was the problem.
What God's Covenants Actually Contain
Look at the terms of the covenants God has actually initiated with people, in Scripture and since.
He binds Himself to provide for needs — not wants.
He binds Himself to protect, until such time as He has appointed for a life to be laid down.
He binds Himself to open the doors He intends to open and close the ones He intends to close.
He binds Himself to be present through everything, and to reveal Himself in a way no easier road could accomplish.
He binds Himself to fruit — souls saved, captives freed, His purposes served.
Notice what is absent from that list. Comfort. Wealth. A pleasant career. The removal of suffering. A predictable and agreeable life.
He offers something better and considerably harder.
The Covenant Nobody Wants
One believer's covenant included this clause: that she would move to a place she did not want to go, walk there in complete obedience — and understand that she would eventually lay down her life there.
That is a real term of a real covenant. And she agreed to it.
Compare that with the covenants we would draft if we held the pen. Ours would specify outcomes. His specify obedience, and leave outcomes to Him.
"Not my will, but thine, be done." (Luke 22:42)
That sentence is the whole difference between a covenant God will make and one He will not.
Testing Your Own Requests
There is a simple diagnostic for whether you are asking on His terms or yours.
Would you still want it if it produced no visible benefit to you?
If what you are asking God to bind Himself to is something that primarily improves your circumstances, be careful. If it is something that primarily serves His purposes and costs you, you are much closer to the pattern of Scripture.
Point to Ponder
Our covenants specify outcomes. His specify obedience, and leave the outcomes to Him.
Verse to Remember
"Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts." — James 4:3
Question to Consider
If I drafted a covenant with God today, whose interests would it mostly serve?
Today's Practice
Write out the covenant you would propose to God if the pen were in your hand. Be honest — nobody will read it.
What would you ask Him to bind Himself to? Health? Financial security? Your children's futures? A particular door opening? The removal of a particular difficulty?
Now, beside it, write the terms He has actually offered people in Scripture: provision of needs, His presence, His purposes served, doors opened and closed by Him, and obedience required of you.
Set the two columns side by side and look at them.
Then pray a dangerous prayer, and mean it as far as you are able: "Father, tear up my draft. I want Yours instead. I do not know what it will contain and I am asking for it anyway."
Prayer
Father, I have been trying to negotiate with You on my terms and calling it faith.
I have wanted You to guarantee outcomes — my health, my money, my children, my plans — and I have been quietly disappointed when You would not sign.
I see now that I have been asking amiss. Forgive me.
Tear up my draft. I do not want a covenant that mostly serves me. I want the one You would write, even though I do not know what is in it, and even though I suspect the cost is real.
Bind Yourself to what You choose. Bind me to obedience. And let Your will be done in my life, not mine.
In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
"Not my will, but thine, be done." That sentence is the whole difference.