Do you know it is possible to have a spirit of demandingness? Allow me to explain what that means. We come to God with an attitude that suggests that God owes us something. Such an attitude brings you leanness of soul as it did to the children of Israel.
We see this in the psalms. “And He gave them their request but sent leanness into their soul.” They had a spirit of demanding things from God. I have actually heard a chorus about how God owes us something, at which I shuddered. And the reason I shuddered is simple.
We already know that the wages of sin is death and that we have all gone astray in sin. So, if God were to pay us what He owes us, where does that leave us? Dead. What God owes us, if it was not for His great mercy, is death. So, if you are in the habit of demanding things from God, please pay attention.
You may be playing with the fire of leanness of soul, like the children of Israel in the wilderness. Does this mean we should not ask God for the things we desire? After all, He is a God who answers prayers. Yes, we must ask, but with what attitude do we ask? Keep in mind that God is the creator of heaven and earth; He is not our paid help.
Therefore, if you come to God as a supplicant, in an attitude of presenting a petition, your prayers make God glad. However, if you come to God with a demanding attitude as though God was your servant, beware. Because the leanness of soul that happened to the Israelites will likely happen to you.
Leanness Of Soul Cannot Coexist With A Prospering Soul
God may grant your desire and then send leanness into your soul as He did to a lady I knew. Without a background in science, she placed a demand on God for a nursing career. God gave her a place in nursing school but each time she saw blood on an injection site she fainted. That was her own version of leanness of soul.
Mercifully, she had enough sense to quickly drop out of nursing school and pursue an accounting career. That was where she prospered. A lot of believers who experience leanness of soul don’t make the connection between their souls and their bank accounts. They keep praying for wealth but wealth only comes to the one whose soul is prospering.
Or as the bible says, “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.” Did you notice that the bible makes it an equation by adding the word “just”? That implies that you will be in good health and prosper to the degree that your soul prospers.
Less soul prosperity equals less health and less prosperity in all things. So, if a man has a leanness of soul, he also has leanness in his health, which means he has a lot of illnesses. Moreover, he has leanness in all other areas of his life.
That is because a lean soul cannot coexist with a prosperous soul. A demanding spirit is the reason God sent leanness into their souls in the wilderness. It is the reason none of those who grumbled – a major sign of a demanding spirit – reached the Promised Land.
Praying To The Creator Of Heaven And Of Earth
By now, you start to see the dangers of an attitude of demandingness when you pray. We earlier observed that God is not our paid help and we should be careful how we approach Him in prayer. He is ever ready to listen to us and answer our prayers.
However, we must acknowledge that He is God, the One who spoke the universe into existence. Think for a moment about how you approach your governor or your national leader. You don’t come claiming He owes you something.
Now, multiply that by a million and you begin to see how you should approach God. You do not approach God with the thought that He owes you anything. Not unless you want leanness of soul, which I know you do not want. Especially now that you know the dangers and results of having a lean soul.
Let us learn to come before God with thanksgiving and supplication so that He will give us a prospering soul. Psalm 95 says it so beautifully. Find time to study it and learn how to approach God in order to avoid a leanness of soul. The verses that relate to our topic say: “Oh come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. For He is our God and we are the people of His pasture. And the sheep of His hand.”
If we believe this psalm, that He is NOT the sheep of our pasture, we will do well. We shall know not to come to God with a demanding attitude. And then, He will not have to give us leanness of soul He gave the children of Israel who demanded.
Maranatha!