Would you give your 3 year old a pocketknife?

Sometimes you hear someone describe something and it just “clicks”, it makes sense and brings a new perspective to something.

I heard a preacher on the radio and do not know who it was so I cannot give him credit. But his message was so good. I want to share it with you. Now it won’t be word for word so this is my version of what he said and I added to the talk here and there.

His topic was why doesn’t God answer our prayers? God does answer our prayers, He hears every single one. His answers are one of three: yes, no and wait. Often we forget that we are commanded to pray according to Gods will, not ours.

For example- asking God to kill somebody that we harbour a grudge for is against Gods nature and God won’t go against Himself. Plus God knows all about that other person and loves them just like He loves you. I bet that was not the answer you were hoping for.

Second, God answers on His own time table. So you might ask for something and God knows you are not ready for it. God is our Heavenly Father and good fathers know what their children need.

For instance - a certain father carried a pocket knife around with him all the time. His 3 year old son tells his dad that he would like a pocket knife as well.

His father answered the boy that he was not quite old enough to have a knife as they are very dangerous. The little 3 year old informed his dad very somberly that he knows all about opening and closing knives and he would be very careful.

As a good father, Dad knows that a 3 year old is not at all safe to carry a pocketknife around. So Dad tells his son that he will buy him a knife when he gets a little older.

Just like the father who agreed to buy his son a knife, he knew the correct time was not as a 3 year old. It was not that dad did not answer the request, he simply put it on hold until the proper time, when his son could handle it.

You and I have no idea what is in store down the road of our lives. God knows the end from the beginning - sometimes our prayers get answered today, sometimes in the future, and sometimes God saves us from our own prayer requests because it would be like giving a pocketknife to a 3 year old.

I cannot imagine that 3 year old is happy with Dad's answer just like many of us are not happy when God withholds our answers to prayers. We "want" our way, we know what we need and we usually need it "now".

If God does not come through with our answer then many of us feel like one of the following:

• He does not care

• He does not listen

• He is ignoring us

• We do not matter to Him

In the case of the story that we just read, nothing is further from the truth than these conclusions. The Father was simply being a good Father, and the fact that He did not give his son a pocketknife proved that He cared, He listened, He was not ignoring His son and that His son mattered very much to Him.

Our brains get one track minded when we need an answer to our perceived need. Upon further investigation, could it be that perhaps our "unanswered prayer" is actually an act of kindness and care for our well being.