Why Was I Surprised?

I shouldn't have been surprised, but I was.  She approached me in the hallway yesterday morning after the worship service.  I have a job for you, she said.  And then she told me about what she would like me to consider doing.  Think about it and pray about it, she said, and then let me know.  I agreed to do that, we chatted a few more minutes, and then I walked on to my car.

Well, that was unexpected, I thought to myself.  And then I stopped dead in my tracks, right in the middle of the hallway.  You see, it wasn't unexpected at all.  It was exactly what I had been praying for!  Not that specific opportunity.  Just an opportunity.  I had been asking God to show me where I could be useful, to open a door of ministry.  And here was His answer!

So why was I surprised?

Why do we pray and then act so surprised when God answers? (I say we because I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one!)  Isn't that what He promised to do?

This is not just a 21st century problem.  It has been going on for a while.
Remember the Apostle Peter?  In the Book of Acts, chapter 12, we read about Peter being put in prison by Herod.  Following Peter's imprisonment, many were gathered together and praying for his release.  Peter was, in fact, released from prison (by an angel of the Lord).  When he went to the house where his friends were praying, "they were amazed" (Acts 12:16 ESV).  In fact, when Peter first came to the gate and knocked, and the servant girl reported that Peter was at the gate, no one believed her!

And we're still doing the same thing today.  We pray.  God answers.  And we're surprised.

Silly us.  How foolish.

"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."  (1 John 5:14-15 ESV)