God Always Answers, Sometimes Quickly
A man from Norfolk , VA called a local radio station to share this on Sept 11th, 2003, TWO YEARS AFTER THE TRAGEDIES OF 9/11/2001. His name was Robert Matthews and these are his words:
"A few weeks before Sept. 11th, my wife and I found out we were going to have our first child. She planned a trip out to California to visit her sister. On our way to the airport, we prayed that God would grant my wife a safe trip and be with her. Shortly after I said 'amen,' we both heard a loud pop and the car shook violently. We had blown out a tire. I replaced the tire as quickly as I could, but we still missed her flight. Both very upset we drove home. I received a call from my father who was retired NYFD. He asked what my wife's flight number was, but I explained that we missed the flight. My father informed me that her flight was the one that crashed into the southern tower. I was too shocked to speak. "
God always answers but not always in the ways we expect and not always in our timing. I would say as soon as this couple prayed, God answered their prayer! Although, like so many times they did not see it as an answered prayer at the moment. They probably saw an inconvenience and a burden in that blown tire. I have such a hard time with that and yet I try to remember that God uses everything. He doesn't waste anything and He uses it all for our good. How many times has a traffic jam kept us from something bad? We have no idea!
Psalm 116: 1-2, "I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live." The psalmist called on the Lord. Verses 3 and 4, "The cords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave came over me; I was overcome by distress and sorrow. Then I called on the name of the Lord: 'Lord, save me!'" Verse 8, "For you, Lord, have delivered me from death..." Through this encounter, the psalmist's love for God was deepened. Just as I believe that man's love for God deepened when his wife's life was saved. Their love was deepened so much that both, the psalmist and the man writing the article wanted to share what God had done for them.
What would our life be like if we called on the Lord more. I bet we would see more answered prayers and deepen our love and our strength! We know God is loving and merciful and can do supernatural things but I think we forget He is still in the business of miracles. And, in my opinion, that is what this was.
I believe we need to be asking God to give us the opportunity to see Him move in our lives. We need to ask Him to give us boldness to share what He has done in our lives. Not only does this build our own faith and deepen our love for Him but this brings hope to others! This makes us more grateful and more trusting in our relationship with God. This is a win-win situation!
"The goal is not to be delivered of your problem only but to be an instrument of God."