Making request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you. Romans 1:10
There is a little group of Christians in a faraway land that I would love to go and visit. I receive some information about them from time to time from a friend who has visited them. They have a tough life in many ways, and I pray for them daily that God will meet their needs. I have even prayed a few times that God would allow me to go and visit them. So far, He has not granted that prayer. Perhaps that is a good thing, when I consider how God answered the prayer of the apostle Paul in our text that he be allowed to go and visit the Christians in Rome.
Paul wrote this letter to the Romans sometime before the year 60, during one of his visits to the Greek city of Corinth. God did allow him to make it to Rome, for the first time, sometime around the year 61. And he returned around the year 68. On both occasions, he arrived in the city in chains, the prisoner of Rome. On his first imprisonment, Paul spent two years there under house arrest before being released, two fruitful years in which he preached the Gospel to many and was able to write several of his epistles. His second visit to Rome was nowhere nearly as pleasant. He spent several months in almost solitary confinement there before being dragged out to Nero’s chopping block. Would Paul have prayed so fervently to be allowed to go to Rome – as he describes in our text – if he had known how his prayer was to be answered? Knowing what we do of Paul, I believe the answer would be yes. But what about us, are we willing to accept the consequences of God answering our prayers, regardless of what those consequences are?
We can – and should – pray that we will be faithful witnesses throughout our day. But that means we should also expect some reproach from the world that does not appreciate the loving and honest character that marks true disciples of Christ. We can – and should – pray for the lost souls around us to be reached by the Gospel. But that means we should also expect to be asking those lost souls to come to a Gospel meeting, or expect to be inconvenienced as we provide the means for the Gospel to be heard. We can – and should – pray for God to lead us into all that is best for our lives. But that means we should also expect to be placed in circumstances that would not be of our own choosing.
Someone once said to be careful what you pray for because God might give you what you ask for. Paul was willing to accept the consequences of answered prayer. Are we? -Jim MacIntosh