Yeah, I know some of the more righteous ones are saying “ooooooo…Christians shouldn’t be playing the lottery”. Yeah, okay. I don’t know of many churches that would turn down a donation from someone who won the lottery.
Hey, I have prayed this before. I will be honest. I have asked God to help us win the lottery. It doesn’t have to be the jackpot, but a nice six figure amount would be nice, wouldn’t it? I would like to think that I would do good with it.
Well, in case you wondered, He hasn’t answered that prayer yet. I think the most I have ever won is $100.
Now, I don’t agonize in prayer constantly over this because it’s really hard to know to pray about winning the lottery. When you and I think about this we rationalize how we would do good with the winnings and that surely God should want us to win right? I mean, if He wanted to, He could let me win. Yes, it would be nice but I'm not going to get bent out of shape about it.
Unfortunately, there are countless stories about how lottery winners’ lives changed but not in the way they thought. Money tends to change people. I think God knows that about us.
Think about this…when people win the lottery, they end up losing friends and family over it because everyone wants a piece of it. Family you haven’t heard from EVER suddenly want to be in your life. Friends become friendlier.
I think about this, and I know there are people who would treat me much different than they do now. Many barely have a thought of me and I get pushed to the sidelines, but I guarantee you they would have no problem including me if I became an instant millionaire.
So, do we really want God to answer that prayer?
Yeah, I know. We all would say “hey, I would like to have those problems instead of struggling financially.” Some lessons we don’t learn until we have had to learn them.
There have been many lottery winners who have regretted winning.
So, yes, it is perfectly okay to ask God to win the lottery, but it shouldn’t be something that consumes you. Just like everything else we should pray for God’s will to be done. But, like the saying goes, we can't take it with us.
- In 2006, Sandra Hayes won the Missouri lottery, splitting a $224 million prize. Her win was emotionally damaging. “I had to endure the greed and the need that people have, trying to get you to release your money to them. That caused a lot of emotional pain. These are people who you’ve loved deep down, and they’re turning into vampires trying to suck the life out of me.”
- In February 2015 the media presented Marie Holmes as a feel-good story when the single mother – one of her four children has cerebral palsy – won $188 million and vowed to tithe to her North Carolina church. She made good on the promise, giving $800,000 to Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist near Shallote, NC., which Pastor Vaughn Cherry says will be used for repairs, updates, and a new church van. Personally, though, Holmes has also been in the news for paying the $21 million bail of boyfriend Lamarr “Hot Sauce” McDow, who was arrested on drug charges. Holmes herself was recently arrested for threatening to inflict bodily harm on a woman.
- Jack Whittaker, a West Virginia man, won $314.9 million in 2002. He was robbed multiple times and lost a granddaughter to a drug overdose, an event he blamed on the windfall.
- Abraham Shakespeare was killed by an acquaintance three years after winning $30 million in 2006. William Post won $16.2 million in 1988 and spent lavishly. He quickly faced legal troubles, and his brother tried to hire someone to kill him and his sixth wife. Post died broke in 2006.
So, yes, it is perfectly okay to ask God to win the lottery, but it shouldn’t be something that consumes you. Just like everything else we should pray for God’s will to be done. But, like the saying goes, we can't take it with us.
Okay, God I'm not being greedy here. I don't need to win the entire jackpot. I would be happy with a nice amount to make our lives a little better.
