By Dean LuskYou may be familiar with
the true story from 2005 about a radio show listener who thought she'd won $100,000 in a radio contest. She called in at the correct time and was told she'd won "100 grand." After she exploded with joy and eventually calmed down enough from her excitement to listen, the DJ informed her that she had, indeed, won the prize -- a "100 Grand candy bar."
Gotcha! The DJ was sued.
Then there's the similarly-zany
account of the Hummer that a listener won in another contest. When the caller gave the correct answer in the contest and went to pick up her brand-new Hummer H2, she unpleasantly found that it was a toy.
Gotcha! She sued the radio station.
How many times have you heard it said, "You'd better not ask God for patience because He might just give you what you ask for"?
The implication is that we'll be thrown into trials during which God will prolong difficult situations, cause our children to go astray, make it impossible for us to pay our bills, or any of a number of circumstances which will teach us to be patient.
Romans 5:3-4, NLT
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Comments (6)
God, like Congress, is above the law.
LMAO! I remember that from when I was a brainwashed Christian. Sowing the seed of negative expectation-hypnosis.
I made the mistake of asking for wisdom. It turns out that wisdom requires a great deal of suffering.
Ah, experience. That stuff you get right after you needed it.
The two examples you gave above are what are wrong with this country. Feel slighted? Sue someone. Feel your "free gift" or "prize" isn't what you imagined? Sue someone. It's all about "Me".
God doesn't intentionally put obstacles in our way so He can say "Gotcha!". We are not made for Him to torment, for His amusement. We were made in the image of God, to love one another and spread the Good News of salvation through Jesus.
God created the world and everything in it for our enjoyment, for us to grow and discover and come to love Him, not through a "threat of what'll happen if we don't", but rather as a response to the good things He's given us.
It is sin that has derailed the train, introduced greed and evil into the world. Every good thing God has given us, Satan has tainted.
When we receive Christ into our heart's and repent, God provides us a helping hand to walk through the muck on the path. He doesn't promise to remove us from the path. He says, "together we'll get through this". By being there for us, standing side by side with us, He shows us that he loves us.
Just removing the obstacles from the path would not deepen our relationship nor strengthen the bonds of love He has for us, and we for Him.
I was gotcha'd pretty hard by God. As you can imagine, I am extremely careful about what I pray for now. When I do pray.
I totally agree with @lucylwrites@xanga - asked God for health, he almost killed me. Asked God to heal my father; he took him [healing him in Heaven is NOT what I was praying for and an omniscient God should've known that!]. I pray when the situation is beyond my control, but after everything I've been through since '09, I expect him to answer them by taking something I need/want away...and I can't take anymore.