begging and pleading

The other day I was driving to Bloomington with my son in the back seat. We had stopped at McDonald's for breakfast and he could see my Coke cup in the cup holder. He started to ask for a drink and I handed him his cup of milk. He didn't want the milk and so he threw it to the floor and began to point, whine and ask for my drink.  The problem was that I could not give him my drink, I couldn't reach him, he couldn't reach me and I was driving and could not pull over to get the drink to him. Besides that, he did not need coke at 9:00 in the morning (whether I needed it is a separate matter entirely) and I knew that he would end up spilling it all over himself and I did not have any other clothes for him.

Needless to say, there were plenty of reasons NOT to give him my coke at this point. So I began to explain this all to him...

Have you ever tried to reason with a two-year old? The best reasoning, the most thought-out responses or explanations mean nothing! It is very difficult to convince a two-year old that you are right and that you have their best interest in mind.

I imagine that this is the same way with God as we pray for our "needs" and ask "why", "why not", but, but, but...

Back to my son, after some asking, whining, and a bit of a fit, he pulled out the "p" card, "please daddy, please".

When we begin to beg God, to plead with Him on our own behalf or the behalf of another person, what does He do, what does He say, what does He feel?