Praying for parking spaces

Almost immediately after I prayed that God would provide a parking space for me, I thought Don't be silly-- God isn't a gumball machine or a magic genie lamp.

I turned onto the next side street, and there was a spot.

I instantly felt rebuked. Why do I think that God doesn't care about the details of my life? And I was reminded of Paul Miller's A Praying Life and how his grandmother said about praying for parking spaces, "Well, how else am I going to find one?" It's true.... every good gift comes from above; and I guess that includes parking spaces.

But I heard a pastor talk about prayer this past Tuesday night, and he used the same illustration-- of praying for parking spaces-- as an example of wrong prayer. "If you don't get there in time," he said, "there isn't going to be a parking space. It has nothing to do with your prayer being effective or not. You're just praying selfishly."

Okay.... Sort of.... But that doesn't take into account the sovereignty of God. He can hold a parking space open for me for three weeks if he wants to; it doesn't depend on my timing. But more importantly, what struck me was that it doesn't take into account the love of God. I had been circling for about twenty minutes, and I was frustrated, tired, and just wanted to go home. God saw that, he knew that, and he cared about that. But even moreso, I think he knew how much the provision of that seemingly insignificant detail would encourage me in that moment to trust his provision of the larger details of my life.

God doesn't need to answer my prayers. But I'm learning that he delights to do so. Not for my glory, but for his. So maybe that's part of it.... I didn't get that parking spot because I needed a place to park my car; I got that parking spot because God knew it was the best way at that time to bring glory to himself.