"One thing have I desired of the LORD and I will seek after it: that I will dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in His temple." Psalm 27:4
Its easier to pray for what we want right now than to ponder whether what we want from God is the same as what God wants for us. Perhaps that's why prayer often sounds like a list of petitions for temporary and temporal reversals of the fall:
that everyone who is sick gets better,
that everyone who is nearing death doesn't die,
that every bad event turns out well,
and that every hardship ends quickly.
In themselves reversal petitions are not necessarily bad, but by themselves they are. Thankfully, God will ignore reversal requests that conflict with His eternal and spiritual plan for us. The fall is already reversed and all that is temporal and temporary is turning toward the highest good - i.e., the spiritual and eternal. Embrace the beauty of the Psalmist's petition in prayer, "one thing have I desired", even though a list of reversal requests is much easier. Reversals work both ways, which of us can carry that weight?
