Donna prayed as we were about to leave for our trip back home to Zambia. “Lord Jesus, protect us and help us to see an elephant up close. The children have never seen one really close. Amen.” We had been in Zimbabwe for a week teaching at a national conference. I had been sick all week and still didn’t feel well, so Donna drove with our two children in the back. After a couple of hours, we began our journey up the mountain escarpment. The next 100 miles was also a game preserve. I occasionally nodded off—I have never been able to sleep in cars or planes. Between one of my cat-naps, I opened my eyes and instantly saw a enormous bull elephant in the middle of the road. Because he was standing on a sharp curve, his color blended exactly to the color of the mountain rocks behind him making him virtually invisible. I began screaming to Donna, who was totally oblivious to this massive beast that was within two hundred feet of us. “Stop, Stop!” I yelled. Donna just replied, “Why?” Finally with my next desperate scream, she stopped only a few feet from the elephant, which she finally saw. Then she panicked, threw it in reverse, and started to back up before I stopped her. “Just sit still,” I whispered to the family. The elephant lumbered over two feet from the driver side door, lifted up his trunk for a sniff, and with one big eye peering in, checked us out. After what seemed to be an eternity, he turned and disappeared off the road behind a gap in the rocks. As you can imagine it took Donna and I several minutes to gain our composure. Of course the kids thought it was so exciting, “We got to see an elephant really close.” Immediately, I looked at Donna and said, “The next time you pray, will you please tell God just how close.”
The moral of this story is ‘be careful what you pray for.’ God honors the power of our prayers, but we can put boundaries around Him. I wrote a chapter in the biography of my pastor about how he learned this lesson. His wife was pregnant with their fourth child. They thought they had calculated the date of the birth so he could be home for the birth and honor a commitment to preach a two week revival. But their date came and went and it was time for him to leave for the revival. His wife insisted he go. So he prayed, “Lord, I want you to hold everything as it is until I get back. I want to be here when the baby is born.” At the end of the first week his wife called in great distress. Of course he was concerned. Below are his words:
After going back to my room, I lay across my bed trying to meditate. All I could do was think of her. The Lord spoke to my heart and asked a question. “Why don’t you release your wife? She’s suffered long enough.” I suddenly realized my prayer had bound Janice. It was time for the baby to come, but the Lord acted on the strength of my unwise prayer, delaying the baby’s birth. “Lord,” I cried, “Thy will be done! Please forgive me. I didn’t know I was doing anything wrong.”
Their son was born that night. Several times as a pastor I’ve seen loved ones by their prayers hold an elderly person here on earth when it was time for them to go on to heaven. They put a boundary on God’s time table. We’ve experienced something in our effort to sell our current home. Of course people we’ve known and ministered to for years don’t want us to leave. I’ve had several well meaning people tell me, “We’re praying you don’t sell your house and have to stay here with us.” Recently, I realized this innocent gesture of attachment to us was hindering the sale of this house. I asked God to overrule their prayers.
This may seem trivial, but it reinforces to me that there is power in people’s prayer. So, how do we pray? It is never wrong to end our pray with, “your will be done”. Jesus did. Paul said for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes . . . for the saints according to the will of God (Rom 8:26, 27). Be careful what you pray for. You might what you get what you asked for.
Sustaining Word for the Week:
Ask for wisdom and allow the Holy Spirit help you pray. God desires to answer prayer and desires to answer according to His perfect will and plan for your lives.