Have You Realized the Danger of Notions and Imaginations?

A pastor was trapped on the roof of his house during a flood. He began praying to God sincerely to rescue him. A boat came by with some people heading for safe ground. They yelled at the man, “Come on! Get in. You will drown.” But the pastor said, “No, I am waiting for God to save me.” They shook their heads and moved on. The floodwaters continued to rise, and the pastor continued to pray. After a while, a ship came by and people in the ship urged him to be on board. Once again, the pastor was unmoved. “I shall remain. The Lord will see me through.” The ship went on. The flood continued to rise, and the pastor continued to pray. After a moment, a helicopter pilot hovered above the pastor. Using a megaphone, the pilot tried to convince him to grab the rope ladder which was dangling above his head. But he still said, “No, it’s OK, I’m praying to God and He is going to save me.” So the helicopter reluctantly flew away. Soon the water rose above the rooftop and the pastor drowned. He finally got his chance to discuss this whole situation with God, at which point he exclaimed, “I sincerely prayed to You. But You didn’t answer, nor did You save me. I don’t understand why!” To this, God replied: “I sent people three times to save you. But you refused them all.”

Only then did the pastor ultimately realize.

In reality, we as believers are also doing what the pastor did. We pray for many things, and imagine and hope that God will respond to us according to what we expect. If it doesn’t happen according to our notions and imaginations, we then think that God has not responded. Many times, it’s not that God doesn’t answer our prayers, it’s that we don’t know the way God responds to our prayers. It is all acknowledged that God is the Creator, and we are created beings. God alone has the final say about how He responds to our prayers. We should stand firm in our position as created beings, and learn to seek, accept, and obey. We should not ask or expect God to answer our prayers in the way we imagine, otherwise, we will suffer the loss!