A God of Opportunities

Sometimes it seems as though God does not hear our prayers. We pray and pray about things that are really important but there seems to be no answer, or at least not the answer we want. We might be tempted to grow weary and quit praying. We might even get mad at God. This reminded me of the movie Evan Almighty from 2006. There is a great scene where Evan’s wife and “God” sit down to talk. Joan had prayed that God would bring the family closer together, but things don’t seem to be going well. “God” (Morgan Freeman) then has this wonderful line:

“Let me ask you something. If someone prays for patience, you think God gives them patience? Or does he give them the opportunity to be patient? If he prayed for courage, does God give him courage, or does he give him opportunities to be courageous? If someone prayed for the family to be closer, do you think God zaps them with warm fuzzy feelings, or does he give them opportunities to love each other?”

Sometimes God’s answer to our prayers is just such an opportunity. We’ve all marveled this past week at the minors who were rescued in Chile. Interviews have shown that the minors learned two very important things while they were trapped. They learned that they needed God most of all and, secondly, that they needed other people. One can hardly think of two more important things in life to realize. Yet, how many of us would have prayed that God trap us in a mine for two months for God to teach us this? This difficult situation actually turned into one of God’s “opportunities.”

We may not ever be stuck in a mine, but each of us needs to find time to learn the important things in life, like God and family. The next time you’re praying for something, don’t be surprised if God chooses to answer your prayer with one of his famous “opportunities.”