Tuesday, March 12, 2013

The Man and the Flood


A Christian man lived in a town not that far away.
One  day he heard a report on the radio warning everyone in the town to leave their houses right away due to the fact that a flood was coming.
The guy told himself that he wasn’t going to leave because he was a praying man and God wasn’t going to let him die. 
So, he stayed in the house, and the flood waters came.
A while later a officer in a rowboat was looking for people who hadn’t evacuated and found the Christian man.
The officer told the man to come into the boat so he could take the man to safety.
The Christian man said that he was a praying man and God wasn’t going to let him die, so he refused the officer's  help and the officer went in search of others.

Later a helicopter was flying overhead and saw the Christian man.
The person in the helicopter yelled down to the Christian man that he would help him evacuate the area.
The Christian man refused, saying that he was a praying man and that God wasn’t going to let him die.
So the people in the helicopter went on to search for others.
And the flood waters continued to rush in, and eventually the Christian man died.
So as the Christian man reached the pearly gates and demanded an audience with God.
When they met, the Christian man talked to God.  He told Him that he was a praying man and always did what he could for others. 
If he was this way, then why did God let him die.
God replied to the Christian man:  "What do you want from me?  I put out a radio report, I sent an officer in a row boat, and I sent a helicopter to help you.”

So what is the moral to this story?  Often we pray for things and God answers our prayers, and we don’t even realize what He has done because it wasn’t answered exactly the way we thought it would be answered.  The man obviously expected God to just spare him and his house from the incoming flood waters.  Instead of stopping the water God instead sent him a warning about the flood and two rescuers.  All of those were ignored by the man because that wasn’t what he wanted.

How often are we like the Christian man in the story?  I know that there have been many times in my life that I’ve expected God to answer a prayer one way, only to see it answered another.  I think it’s time that we start to pray and expect an answer from God, but know that the answer we will get might not be what we were expecting.  I hope you remember this story as you pray, and don’t be like the Christian man.  Accept His answers to that prayer, however they come.

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