Unanswered Prayers

A man got off work really late one Thursday evening. He had tried everything that he could to get off earlier because halfway across the country, his son was playing in a Thursday night college football game that was being televised on ESPN and he didn't want to miss it. On top of already being late it had been storming outside with rain, thunder, and lightning over the past several hours. The drive home was slow and not only did he have to be cautious driving in the current conditions, he also had to navigate around the other drivers. As he was driving, he said a prayer to God. He asked God to allow him to get home in time to watch his son on television. The storm continued to rage as waves upon waves of lightning flashed nearby.

Finally, after a drive that normally takes him twenty minutes, he arrived at home after an hour commute. He arrived just in time to see a group of his neighbors standing with umbrellas in his driveway. They were pointing and looking at the second floor of his house. The man froze as he stepped out of his car and understood what had happened. A very large tree had been struck by lightning and had fallen onto his house. The tree had fallen directly over his living room where the man would have been sitting watching the game. The tree had caved in half the roof and knocked the top floor down into the living room area. It was easy to see that if anyone had been sitting in the living room they could not have survived.

The story above has similarities to when Jesus predicted His death to his disciples. Jesus told them that He would suffer, die, and rise from the dead. Peter was not able to accept those remarks and took Jesus aside and rebuked him. Peter was in denial and had no idea about God's master plan.

He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."
Mark8:31-33

If Peter ended up having it his way, Jesus would have never died for our sins.

We all wish and pray for things that don't come to fruition. We must trust in God's plan and have faith that He will see us through difficult times. Forcing or going against God's plan only seems to worsen the situation. Have patience and accept the situation you are in with thankfulness and reassurance that there is a greater lesson to be learned.

God bless you. And this is for His Glory!