The epitaph for this generation could read: They Didn’t Know.
Nothing new about that, however. Reading the New Testament, one is struck by how often significant players in the Lord’s drama were said not to have a clue.
On the cross, the Savior summed it up when He prayed, “Father, forgive them. They do not know….”
Here are instances throughout the New Testament where that can be said.
Prayer. Matthew 20:22
The disciples did not know what they were asking for.
Ever pray that way? I have. I’ve asked the Lord to grant me success in this venture or that without ever checking to see if it was His will in the first place.
The brothers James and John wanted the places of honor in the Kingdom. And, who knows, they reasoned–perhaps it will be given to the ones with the moxie to ask. After all, isn’t it true that “you have not because you ask not”? And, they further reasoned, the worst that could happen was that the Lord would say, “No.”
He said, “No.” And more. That it was reserved for those whom the Father chose. And that they did not know what they were asking.
One wonders if a few weeks later when they saw the two thieves dying on crosses–one on the Savior’s right hand, the other His left–if they remembered this sad conversation.
The Apostle Paul said, We do not know how to pray as we should. Boy, is that ever the truth.
Help us, Father. We say as the disciples said, “Lord, teach us to pray.”