So on a weekend when we had already measured over three inches of rain and a 90% chance of "heavy rain" was predicted for two more days, we were a little concerned. We prayed hard for God to send us clear skies and no more rain. That is exactly what He did. The puddles dried fairly quickly, and the dark, wet ground is beginning to look like pale gray Florida sand again.
All of that made me think of the poor old weatherman. For a week he had predicted heavy rains those two days, and he turned out wrong. Was he wrong because his science was wrong? No, he was wrong because he is not the one in control. We make fun of him all the time—"He never gets it right"—which is probably not accurate in itself. He does get it right fairly often. But think of what he has going against him. Think of all the Christians out there praying that he will be wrong, and a Heavenly Father who listens to His children and as often as possible, does what they ask. The weatherman doesn't stand a chance. That he gets anything right is a notable thing, and once again only due to a Father who has ordered the world to run in a certain way, on a certain timetable of seasons, fronts, and heat waves.
Or do we believe that? I think I have some brothers and sisters who don't. Then why do you pray at all, may I ask? Maybe we don't get what we ask for because we don't truly believe it is even possible to receive it.
Who do you believe? God or the poor, old weatherman?
And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him (1John 5:14-15).
Dene Ward