He who has ears...

A friend at work heard that 9 firefighters in his hometown died in a roof cave-in. He is, in his own words, not on the best of terms with God but he knew quite a few of those men and asked me to pray that none of his friends were among the dead. I did pray. I asked God would make his power and mercy known to Brian by answering his prayer.

I told Brian tonight that I’d asked God to spare them, and whether he had any word yet. He answered, “oh yeah, turns out it wasn’t them at all because the guys who got hit were in their 40s. It’s still tragic, though...”

I was struck at the difference between us. God’s answer was right in front of his face, but he didn’t see it. I was also struck by God’s mercy. Jesus told the Pharisees that He would not tell them whether he was the Christ because they would not believe Him if He told them. God answered Brian’s prayer knowing he would be ignored and rejected.

But I saw it and gave Him thanks. In the coming months there will be many more opportunities to see God’s hand preserving us. I will recognize Him, and will worship, and I will remind Brian of the firefighters.