when i distrust the Bible

I have an automatic distrust of the Bible. It's true. I read with reverence until one of those difficult verses, like, "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart," pops up. I wince, like at the bottom of a forward email that says, "Pass this on to four friends and your prayer will be answered."

I distrust such guarantees—even from the Bible. John 15 says that if you abide (dwell) in God, "…whatever you ask the Father in my name, He may give it to you." (John 15:16) Crazy. What do we do with verses like that? Or again in 1 John 3, "Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do what pleases Him."

Meanwhile, I read these verses and wonder, "Is this really true? How far does this go?" Obviously, there are restrictions—caveats in place in the text. "If" we abide in God, and "if" we keep His commandments and do what pleases Him. This means automatically, I think, that the sort of things we ask for are not going to be things against the Bible, and the prayers answered are not against His will. "God, please help me successfully cover up a lie," is therefore, not a prayer guaranteed to be answered under these stipulations. But I state the obvious here.

What about the amoral prayers? What about the good ones—when we ask for a friend's healing? Or for healing in relationships? For the provision of something you don't technically "need"? (e.g., friend and I prayed in the Nike store the other day; she wanted shoes without paying a ridiculous amount of money.) These are objectively good things, even arguably within the will of God. Will God answer these prayers?

I'm not sure. His will trumps everything. But I think Scripture would have us do two things:

1) Don't assume God will say "no." Believe that God is naturally inclined to rescue, to give you joy; and if it doesn't happen it's because He has a greater plan of rescue or a greater plan of joy in mind. Expect good gifts from God.

2) Ask often, ask boldly. This seems presumptuous. My soul trembles to do this—to pester the throne of grace. But amazingly, this is what Jesus says to do. He tells the story of a socially awkward, presumptuous man who battered his friend's door at midnight to ask for bread (Luke 11). He also tells of the widow who pestered a judge until he granted her justice (Luke 18). In both cases, Jesus tells us to pray in the same way. On what do we base our presumption?

3) …Jesus is our High Priest, our Advocate. 1 John 3:1 says, "See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are." Children depend on their parents. Loving parents bid their children to come with their desires, needs, and especially their hurts. By virtue of our High Priest and Advocate, our adoption is secure. We are children, kept and loved. Abba says, "Come…again and again, come."

Even if I don't get it half the time, the Bible seems plain here. The promises on prayer may seem to grand, but what else can I do but trust? That's what children do. I am content that the promises are left to Him for the keeping.