Answered Prayer

Some may think this post frivolous and silly. After all, aren’t there worlds to conquer? Why mess with such silly things as catching fish and finding lost wallets? Aren’t those kinds of prayers for our fanatical charismatic brothers? We reformed are far above that form of silliness, we think. We are in to fine points of doctrine, the restoration of the church, the reformation of right worship. Bosh and bother, how goes your faith in the omnipresent and sovereign God? The fact is that the reason we do not perform in the grand things of the Lord is that we cannot perform in the small things first. He who is faithful in a little will be given much. Could it be that our work is small because our faith is small?

I just got back from vacation in Maine and had a hankering to catch a fish in the tidal waters of Middle Bay at Harpswell. Although I am an experienced fishermen, I had no idea what fish were in the bay or how to catch them. So I resorted to prayer. There is an indictment of our view of prayer. We have to ‘resort’ to it. God answered that silly prayer and I caught a beautiful Striped Bass. He was about fourteen inches long, a small one by Striper standards. So, with some audacity but in faith I prayed for a larger catch. By God’s kind providence, He sent another larger fish to find my hook the next day. This fish was not huge either but went about eighteen inches, a fine fish, especially if one is used to catching Smallmouth Bass in little streams.

My son lost his wallet yesterday with all of his hard earned lawn mowing money in it. He was perplexed. He searched the house, his route from his last job and circled the neighborhood without any success in finding his wallet. But there is a God in heaven who sees all. I called in my three year old son to pray that his brother would find his wallet. Ten minutes later, my oldest son came beaming down the stairs with the wallet, which had scooted under his dresser, out of sight to all but One.

God answers prayers, especially prayers of faith, specific and expectant prayers. We rarely pray such prayers because we do not believe. My young son has faith and God blessed Him with an answer so that he would have more faith to pray greater prayers. We have grown up beyond such prayers, beyond such belief. We would do well to learn the lesson. When we do, we will become dangerous. Until then, our faithless, generic prayers will continue to render to us according to our faith.