Missing teeth...Missing Answers

Lydia lost a tooth while in school yesterday. I have no idea how it had hung in there that long! It was barely hanging on a week ago. I asked her how it happened...
Lydia, "I was sitting at my desk doing my work and my tooth was really hurting so I prayed to God and asked Him to help it stop hurting...then it fell out...it was floating in my mouth!"
Me, "were you wiggling it and playing with it?"
"No, I just prayed to God and it fell out"
"Did it stop hurting?"
"Yes"
"Then God answered your prayer didn't He?"
"...Well I guess" she hesitantly responded.

Isn't that just like us? How many times have I prayed to God for something...and even thought I knew the best way to get me there? Do you know what I mean? For as high as the heavens are above the earth so are His ways higher than my ways. I am so thankful that not only do I not get to decide the answers to my prayers, I don't get to decide how they are answered. I usually don't realize that I had it all planned out...how He would answer...until the answer comes and then I am amazed.

Like when Jesus was on the boat with the disciples and a furious storm came. The disciples were terrified, yet Jesus slept. They awoke Him screaming "we are going to die! Save us!" Obviously they were crying out to be physically saved from the storm...but His means were not what they expected. He did not make the boat strong enough to withstand the storm, He did not speak and move them to dry ground, He did not tell them to hunker down and He would cover them. He could have done any of these things, and maybe that is what they were thinking he would do. No. He spoke and His creation listened. The Bible says they were amazed and said, "What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey Him."

Or What about Martha and Mary, they sent word to Jesus that his friend Lazarus was ill. They were asking for physical healing from an illness, they knew Christ could heal the sick, they had witnessed that. The Lord did restore Lazarus...He did heal him. But not the way they expected Him to do so. He waited. Three days he waited. Long enough for Lazarus to die and lie there for four days. Then He answered.

The Isrealites waited on their king. A king that would come and save His people and take the throne. The Jewish people were living under the oppressive hands of the Romans. They wanted an earthly king who would come and conquer the Romans and free them from the yoke of slavery. God heard His people and answered the cry of humanity. He gave them a King who would rescue all people and sit on the throne for eternity. Being born of a poor woman, living the life of a servant, having no political power and ultimately being crucified as a criminal was not the way they had expected. Then He answered. Three days later.

God always answers. Sometimes yes. Sometimes no. Sometimes not right now. However, even when the answer is yes...and immediate like when Lydia lost her tooth or Jesus calmed the storm, God seldom works in the ways we had planned. Lydia thought the pain would just go away, she really believed He would make it stop hurting. And He did. But she never thought it would fall out.