Be Careful what you Pray for
Feb 15th, 2008 by Stephen Erastus Knudsen III
I don’t know if there is any better way to say it than that. I think we all know of experiences where the Lord, in His infinite wisdom, has bestowed upon us answers to our prayers, even when those answers are not exactly what we were expecting.
It’s like in that movie Bedazzled – which was not rated-R, but should have been – how the devil always gives Brendan Fraser what he asks for, but always throws a little curveball just the same. We have to be careful, because the Lord has promised to answer our prayers.
For example, I heard a sweet sister share the following experiences years ago over the pulpit (so you know that this is true):
She and her mother used to go to her father’s softball games to cheer him on. The problem was that there were a lot of really good guys on the team and he didn’t often get a chance to play. One game while she was sitting in the stands watching her father sitting on the bench, she said a little prayer: “Lord, please bless my dad that he will get in to the game.” No sooner had she said “amen” than a runner slid into the second baseman, breaking his leg in a violent collision – a tragedy that opened up an immediate roster spot and got her father in the game. She felt horrible for what she had done, although she was glad to watch her father play (even though he dropped the ball that would have won the game — probably because of someone else’s prayer). Be careful what you pray for.
Or another time, when this same girl was little and wanted a bunch of friends to come to her birthday party, and she prayed about it, and they came, but they were all very mean and no one brought a present. Be careful what you pray for.
Or the time that a family was in danger of losing their home because the father was out of work, so they prayed that somehow they would find the money that they needed, and the next day one of the children was killed in a terrible accident, and they collected money from insurance that kept them in their house. BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU PRAY FOR!
It is my [careful] prayer that we will all take this to heart and remember the great impact that our simple prayers can have on everyone around us — the faith of a mustard seed can move mountains. It’s kind of like Mormon Voodoo, but not.
Amen.
Wow Stevie-boy . . . first you admit to watching a PG-13 (or “nearly R”) movie and now you’re essentially telling us not to pray because it will cause some other poor soul harm.
Hmm . . . I guess this means you don’t tower so high above the rest of us after all. Don’t worry. When you’re done eating your share of husks, we’ll welcome you back with open arms.
God is great. Although he doesnt gives only what we wanted but only what he thinks the best for us.
I totally know what you mean. It’s like my friend Rose prayed for her cancer to go away. So like a year later she & her husband crash on this mysterious island where she is miraculously cured. However, they are stuck there with little food, no shelter and scary “others”. Also there is this Dude there who’d won the lottery, but had all this bad luck after. I don’t know if he prayed for that, I’m sure he did because then it fits.
You’re wrong, Irene. God can’t see that island any better than the rest of the world can. But when I found I had a tumor on my spine, a spinal surgeon fell out of the sky. How do you explain that?
Um creepy…. Just kidding. I don’t know ANYTHING about it!
(Please don’t put my name on a list).