I Want the Whole World

It’s a childhood favorite. It’s a classic. Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, that is. I didn’t have the privilege of seeing it until early adulthood when a friend introduced it to me. Those Oompa Loompas are oddly funny.

One young lady stood out to me though, one little bad egg named Veruca Salt. Veruca really didn’t ask for too much. Just the whole world.

I want the world

I want the whole world

I want to lock it

All up in my pocket

It's my bar of chocolate

Give it to me now

She knew what she wanted and she wanted it now. She was spoiled, entitled and had no patience or faith in her father to provide what was best for her in the right time.

So, you see we can learn a lot from Veruca of what not to do, but unfortunately we act just like little Miss Salt at times. I’m sure you’re saying, wait a minute, I’m nothing like Veruca. I don’t go around throwing a fit demanding what I want and wanting it right now!

Or do we?

I will speak for myself, but you may end up seeing a little of Veruca in yourself after all when I‘m done explaining.

When I talk to God through my prayers, they are often filled with demands, suggestions, telling God that I want things to work out my way and in my timing.

“I want it now, daddy!” (In my best English accent😉).

I just want God to do it my way, to see that my way is the best, to do it sooner rather than later. I don’t care how, I want it now.

I want today

I want tomorrow

We sing this same tune in our prayers time and time again, yet not trusting in the One who holds tomorrow and our whole future.

In our current situation I have to admit I have told God what I think will work best. I beg Him to please move things along in MY timing. I suddenly don’t have patience and don’t trust in my Father to do what is best for me in His time. I suddenly become a little more salty. I have become the bad egg.

Does this make me a bad person, per say? No, not really. I think it makes us human but maybe a less trusting human.

Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.

We may just be lacking a little faith and trust in our father to work all things out for our good as he promises in Romans 8:28.

I think the biggest problem, though is when we try to tell God our thoughts of how things will work out best, in any given situation, is that we forget who He is, we forget that He is the great I Am. We forget that He is sovereign and still on his throne and still in control.

"Who else has held the oceans in his hand? Who has measured off the heavens with his fingers? Who else knows the weight of the earth or has weighed the mountains and hills on a scale? Who is able to advise the Spirit of the Lord? Who knows enough to give him advice or teach him? Has the Lord ever needed anyone’s advice? Does he need instruction about what is good? Did someone teach him what is right or show him the path of justice?

No, for all the nations of the world are but a drop in the bucket. They are nothing more than dust on the scales. He picks up the whole earth as though it were a grain of sand.

With whom, then, will you compare God?

To what image will you liken him?

He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth,

and its people are like grasshoppers.

He stretches out the heavens like a canopy,

and spreads them out like a tent to live in.

He brings princes to naught

and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.

“To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.

Why do you complain, Jacob? Why do you say, Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God”? Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.

Isaiah 40:12-15, 18, 22-23, 25-28

The One who created the world and those in it, knows what's best for His creation.

We try to offer advice to the great counselor. Who has given counsel to the Lord?

The Lord foils the plans of the nations;

he thwarts the purposes of the peoples.

But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever,

the purposes of his heart through all generations. Psalm 33:10-11

We try to command the great commander, the Lord of Heaven‘s Armies.

Make the LORD of Heaven’s Armies holy in your life. He is the one you should fear. He is the one who should make you tremble. Isaiah 8:13

It's good for us to remember that our Father knows what’s best for us and will work everything out for our best, in His timing. In fact he said that He will do even more than we can think or imagine (Ephesians 3:20). I better leave the thinking to God then.

My way versus God's way has been a struggle since the beginning of time. Eve regretted the fruit of her choice and yet we still are trying to steal the forbidden fruits in our own lives. We may never learn this side of heaven.

Even Peter who thought he his way was better than the plan that God had established before the beginning of time, was called out by Jesus. Peter passionately demanded that would never happen to His Lord.

From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

Matthew 16:21-23

"You don't have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns"? "Get behind me Satan"? Wow, what a wake up call for all of us.

Don't get me wrong, I do believe that God wants us to bring Him our concerns and fears and tell Him like a child tells their father, but he wants us to come with an element of respect and trust that He will work it all out for us, even if it's not the way we thought He would.

God had a better, wiser plan, his thoughts and ways are higher than ours. (Isaiah 55:8-9) He had a plan for the whole world, for the good of mankind.

He made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ. In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. Ephesians 1:9-12

You see, the battle over wanting the whole world is real. We want the whole world for our own selfish gain, but God wants the whole world to know and love Him and accept the sacrifice that he gave to it, because He loves this world so much.