Christian Living

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How Blessed We Are!
© 2008

by

Stephen A. Peterson


“Hey, Sarge! Can I talk to you for a minute?” asked Marine Private Courtney DeShazo.

“Sure!” responded Marine Sergeant Kevin Chambers. “What do you want to talk about?”

“Sarge, I’ve been watching you for the part three weeks. I’ve been noticing that you pray an awful lot. Before you eat, you pray. When the First Sergeant or CO chews you out, you pray. Before you hit the sack, you pray. Why? What do you get out of it? Does God answer any of your prayers? Are you a Christian? Why do you pray that much?”

“Whoa, Private! You’re asking a lot of questions! Let me try to take them one at a time. Yes, I’m a Christian. I pray for a variety of reasons. I pray for patience, to be fair to you and all the other members of our squad, to thank God for what I have, for my food, for our leaders… I could really go on for a long time, Private, because I am really blessed!”

“Would you say that God answers prayer?”

“Yes, I would! God have given me food to eat, a very good country to live in, air to breathe and much, much more!”

“But I would say, Sarge, that for every example you just gave there must be millions of unanswered prayers. By telling me things most people, we know generally have, isn’t that sort of misleading people, Sarge? ‘Cause there are so many out there who don’t think God ever answers their prayers. They also think God doesn’t like them or that something is wrong with them.”

“Well, listening to what you’re saying, I’ll guess you or someone you know had some problems and/or disappointments that have left you or them disillusioned with God. It’s pretty easy to come to the conclusion that God doesn’t answer prayer when a person fights difficult problems for a long time without making any progress. When I listen to what you’re saying, Private DeShazo, I think about Job. Do you know who Job was?”

“Yeah, he was the guy who I recall lost everything but didn’t, in fact, refused to disown or trash God,” responded Private DeShazo.

“You’re exactly right. Job had every reason to feel deserted, unloved, and uncared for by God. But you know what, he didn’t. He continued to pray, remain loyal and faithful to God in spite of just about everyone he knew told him (Job) to curse God and die. Job’s story is so powerful to me because the whole story is an example of a test of faith. A person of no or little faith would curse God. You see, Private, I’ve come to realize through my reading of Job just how blessed I really am. If you can believe this, if all I had was nothing but the clothes on my back, no food and no water, I would still be blessed!”

“Man, Sarge, I didn’t think about Job and the stuff he went through. But I quit believing in God because nothing seems to go right in my life. And every time I pray nothing seems to ever happen to me for the good.”

“Another great example of faith and prayer was Monica, the mother of Augustine of Hippo, a fifth century AD, “Father of the Early Church”, and Christian scholar. Augustine, in his youth, was engaged in the sins of alcoholism and womanizing in spite of his mother’s attempts to raise him as a Christian. Monica prayed for him everyday for the rest of her life. It was only on her deathbed did Augustine renounce his sin-filled life to a Godly life. Monica prayed for Augustine for more than twenty year his conversion

“Private! Private! Remember what I said when we first began talking about this subject, how I thanked God for what I do have? I don’t deserve what I do have but I have them. So I’m thankful to God for what He has seen fit to give me. Whatever else I get in this life is a blessing. Job’s story should be a memorable lesson for everyone. We should thank God daily for what He has given us. We should continue to pray and be faithful no matter how tough things get. Remember this that God is in control. He knows what you need and He will take care of everything. You’re seen me praying and think I pray a lot.”

“Yeah, Sarge, you sure do.”

“Well, Private, I really feel as though I don’t pray enough. I have missed prayer opportunities.”

It has been said that God answers prayers in three ways: yes, no and wait. A person of faith should never concede to unbelief in the face of unresolved conflict. We have been told to pray without ceasing. In due time, you will realize that your faith will not be in vain.

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