Prayers

When God Answers Your Prayers Differently

by Matthew Sieger
09/21/26
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Eight years ago our next-door neighbor started harassing us. 

My wife, Leigh, and I, had been living in the same house in South San Francisco for 28 years. Our neighbor had been there for twenty of those years without incident.

His house faced the street around the corner from us, so his backyard fence was our side front-yard fence. One evening as Leigh and I pulled into our driveway, we discovered that he had built a gazebo that protruded a couple of feet over the top of our shared fence. Not only was it unattractive, but our neighbor, whom I will call Moe, had hammered into our side of the fence, with the nails sticking out. 

Confrontation 

Leigh and I walked over to Moe’s house to express our displeasure, as he had not told us he planned to build the gazebo. He told us how the gazebo was for his wife and he planned to keep it. 

We consulted with the city and learned that the building codes prohibit any structure that rises above the top of a shared fence that adjoins a front yard. The code was written specifically to prevent a neighbor from constructing what could be an eyesore. 

We invited Moe and his wife to our home to tell them what the city code stated. His wife was upset and said she wanted to talk with the city herself. I said fine, and that I would check back with her in a week. 

When I did check back, Moe said his wife was not home. I asked him what the city had told her. He said he would prefer she told me herself, I asked Moe to have his wife stop by and let us know the results. She never did. 

Ultimatum

The next time I knocked on Moe’s door, I told him that if I didn’t hear back from his wife about the results of her discussion with the city in the next few days, I would file a complaint. I waited those few days, then knocked on his door and asked if he had any news. He did not, so I told him I would file the complaint the next day. He said, “Do what you gotta do.” So I did. 

When the city informed Moe that his gazebo was non-compliant and he would have to take it down, Moe began his harassment. 

He put up totem poles with Voodoo dolls at the top, rising over our fence and pointing at us (I’m not kidding). He turned up the volume on his outdoor speakers and faced them directly at our house, blasting his music whenever he knew we were at home. He pounded something into our adjoining backyard fence, causing big nails to protrude on our side of the fence. 

I called the police on at least two occasions, once about the music, once about the nails. The police talked with Moe, but he kept blasting the music. 

It Gets Worse 

From the first appearance of the gazebo, I prayed for a peaceful resolution. When the harassment started, I would come home after work, and, as was my habit, take a walk around the neighborhood for exercise and prayer. I pleaded with God to the harassment. But it only increased. 

One day, Leigh and her mom went shopping. When her mom dropped her off back home, as soon as Leigh stepped in the front door, Moe turned his music way up. This was especially troubling for Leigh because she was about to retire and would be home all day while I was at work. 

A word from God 

I prayed urgently and heard a specific word from the Lord. It was not an audible voice, but a word that resonated within my spirit. Two words, actually—East Bay. 

South San Francisco is a suburb on the peninsula that is home to San Francisco. The East Bay is across the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. Although Leigh and I had discussed moving after the harassment started, the East Bay had never entered our minds. We had looked at possibilities on the peninsula, but everything was very expensive. 

Nevertheless, I knew it was God speaking. Since I worked in San Francisco, I would need to be near BART, our light rail in the Bay Area. As I worked my way up the map from south to north of cities in the East Bay with BART stations, each city’s housing was way out of our price range until I came to Concord and Martinez. Concord has a population of over 100,000, while Martinez has just 38,000 residents. A smaller town appealed to me. 

Resolution 

We prayed that we could find a home where we would not be too close to our neighbors and/or that we would have good neighbors. We started our search in November and two months later were in our new home in Martinez, not too close to neighbors, and the neighbors we have are quiet and great people. 

We immediately found a wonderful church, one my wife knew of from her days of church camp. In fact, one of her church camp friends was at our new church. I have since retired, and we love Martinez and our church. We host Bible studies at our home. I play flute and saxophone on the worship team. We are part of our church’s weekend walking group and are involved in many more fun church activities. Recently, our daughter, who has lived in Southern California the last twelve years, has also moved to Martinez, as has my wife’s sister and her husband. 

We have now been here eight years and can’t think of a better place to enjoy our retirement. I prayed for deliverance from our neighbor’s harassment, hoping God would intervene and allow us to remain in our home. Instead, he used that harassment to bring us to a wonderful neighborhood and make great new friends. 

God answers prayers—just not always the way we expect.

Matt Sieger, now retired, is a former sports reporter and columnist for The Cortland (New York) Standard and The Vacaville (California) Reporter. He is the author of The God Squad: The Born-Again San Francisco Giants of 1978 and In My Humble Opinion: Musings of a Sports Columnist.