It’s always dangerous to generalize, but in my experience most of us men are bold in many areas of life, with the notable exception of asking for help. We are bold in expressing our love for our favorite sports team, and our disdain for our least favorite. We are bold in expressing our preferences for cars, motorcycles, tractors, restaurants, and politics. Those of you from Oskaloosa are very bold in expressing the correct manner to utilize the McDonald’s drive through, and those from Pella are quite bold in expressing their preference for best bakery. When it comes to asking for any type of help, however, we are often as far from bold as possible. We hide our needs so incredibly well that 99% of people likely think our life is virtually perfect. Yet, my educated hunch is that we are all often overwhelmed by a great many things in life. Asking for help, however, is often far off our radar.
Here is something I’ve realized in life. We can either be bold in asking for help from God or others, or we can be awash in the misery of trying to handle all the problems of life on our own. The result of lacking the boldness of asking for help is almost always burnout. Checkout this amazing example of boldness in Scripture. After Easter, things were not exactly easy for Jesus’ followers. There were many who wanted to jail and kill them just as they had Jesus. To take the bold action needed to share the good news the Apostles had to ask for help.
And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness. Acts 4:29-31
To act with boldness the Apostles had to pray with boldness. They had to ask for God’s help and guidance. And did God ever give it to them! God’s response literally shook the ground, and they were filled with the Spirit. If being a missionary has taught me anything, it is to be bold in my prayers. The reality is, I seldom have what is needed to best get through each day. I am overwhelmed by cultural differences, language differences, a mountains of needs that I have no clue how to address. I have found myself on my knees praying boldly more then ever before.
Where is that boldness in our lives? What are we not asking God for? What are we not doing in our lives that we should, but we not only lack the boldness to try, but the boldness to ask. What do you really need right now, but you lack the boldness to ask? This week, I encourage you to humble yourself boldly before God and pour out your needs to Him.
