Be Careful What You Ask For…

I think God has a sense of humor.  I smile to myself every time I read John 3:23:

Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were coming and being baptized.

The first reason we are given for John baptizing people was that there was plenty of water.  I think that is very funny.

I also smiled this morning while reading in Matthew 9 and 10.

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 

Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” Matthew 9:37-38

That’s how Matthew 9 ends.  The disciples may have then prayed about this the same way we may pray about this, which can be with an ‘other-centered’ prayer.  Today we may read these verses and ask God to send more  missionaries or for God to call people to become missionaries since the harvest is plentiful.

But Matthew 10:5 may indicate that we are the answer to that very prayer we are told to pray.  In Matthew 10:5, Jesus sends the disciples as the very workers they are praying for.  I have to believe a few of the disciples were smiling at the timing, but that none of them were surprised.

When we pray that God would send out the workers to the harvest field, I think God is smiling because He wants us to be the answer to our own prayer.  He does this not only because we are His plan to save the lost, but also because of the impact it has on us when we share our faith.

I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding

of every good thing we have in Christ. Philemon v6

Just as John was baptizing because water was plentiful.  We are being sent because the harvest is plentiful.

We also have Isaiah’s response as a model.

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”

And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” Isaiah 6:8

Another fun part of this is that when we go into the harvest field to share our faith, we are not only answering our own prayer, we are probably answering someone else’s prayer as they ask God to send someone to their parent, spouse, relative or friend to share the love of Jesus.

What will your response be when God asks “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?