What Have You Done For Me Lately?

What Have You Done for Me Lately?

In 1986, Janet Jackson released a song called “What Have You done for Me Lately?” I admit that I never read the lyrics to the song before today, but some of them are pretty funny.  Here’s the second verse: “Used to go to dinner almost every night, dancin' 'til I thought I'd lose my breath, Now it seems your dancing feet are always on my couch, Good thing I cook or else we'd starve to death - Ain't that a shame?  What have you done for me lately?”  It’s not Shakespeare, but you get the point. 

Last Thursday night was opening day of football season. The Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles were home to the Atlanta Falcons.  The first half was very sloppy and at halftime, the Eagles were trailing 6-3.  They serenaded with a chorus of boos from the notoriously fickle Philadelphia fan base on their way to the locker room.  Did I mention that the Eagles were the defending Super Bowl Champions?  What have you done for me lately?

When we think about God, we often ask the same question.  Yes God, you are the Creator of all that is.  Yes God, you sent your Son to die on a cross so that believing I might have eternal life. But, really, “What have you done for me LATELY?”  There’s a scene in Monty Python’s “The Life of Brian” (Don’t act like you’ve never seen it!) where the rebel group of Jews called the People’s Front of Judea complain about the presence of the Romans, saying, “They've taken everything we have and what have they ever done for us?!”  Then one of the rebels mentions the aqueduct that the Romans built, and they all reluctantly agree that the Romans did build them an aqueduct. Another mentions sanitation, and again they agree.  After several more things are mentioned, their leader says, “All right, apart from the aqueduct, sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?!”   What have you done for me lately?

The Life of Brian is a comedy. I don’t mean to equate our relationship to God with Jews living under 1^stCentury Roman oppression, but it’s a funny illustration.  It should make us realize how much we take for granted the things that God HAS provided, while constantly complaining and griping about the things He hasn’t.  What has He provided for us that we take for granted?  He gives us oxygen for our lungs, water for our cells, rain for our crops, and food for our bellies.  Most of us have clothes to wear, roofs over our heads and have never missed a meal.  In addition, He’s given us a way out of the sin predicament that we are in.  We can’t get to heaven because of our sin, but God made a way.  He sent His Son to die on a cross to pay the penalty for our sin. All we have to do is believe in Jesus for our salvation and our sins are forgiven and we spend eternity in heaven. Is that not enough?

Human nature being what it is, the answer is often, no.  We always want more.  We’re always complaining.  We forget to thank God for the prayer He did answer, and continue to worry about the prayer He hasn’t yet answered. We want God to be a cosmic genie in a bottle who grants our every wish.  Jesus said in John 6, you seek me not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.  What have you done for me lately?  Life’s difficulties draw us closer to Him and that’s right where we need to be.  Ultimately, we want to be closer to Him not for what He can give to us, but because of who He is.  

The Eagles came back last Thursday night and beat the Falcons and thousands of delirious Eagles fans cheered.  What had the Eagles done for their fans lately?  They won the game.  But the players know that the fans will turn on them the next time they play a bad first half.  Let’s not be like that toward God.  I have been praying a very specific prayer for some time now and yet God has not yet deemed the time to be right to answer it.  I’m sure you have too.  Let’s love and worship God for who He is and not what He’s done for us lately.  John Piper has famously said, “God is most glorified in us, when we are most satisfied in Him.”  Let’s not ask, “What have you done for me lately?”  Let’s just be satisfied in Him.