A prayer Jesus answered, but did not grant

On one of numerous occasions that crowds followed Jesus when he would have preferred to be alone, he had compassion and set aside his own needs in order to heal the multitudes until it was already past. The disciples finally said, "We're out in the country and it's getting late. Dismiss the people so they can go the the villages and get some supper" (Matthew 14:15 -- Message).

They made their request made known to the Lord. In other words, they prayed. Not only that, they prayed a prayer of compassion. They knew that it would soon be dark and that the people were probably getting hungry. It seemed a good time for Jesus to dismiss them so they could go back home, or at least to a nearby village, and get some food.

As often happens, Jesus had a better idea, and, as often happens, it seemed impossible. He said, essentially, how about if they stay here and you guys feed them. All the disciples had was five loaves of bread and two fish, not even enough to feed all of them. At Jesus' command, they gave it to him, and he fed 5,000 men, plus whatever women and children were present.

I used to figure that when I asked God for something and it didn't happen, God hadn't answered my prayer. Then, I heard that God answers prayers in different ways: yes, no, and later. What this passage tells me is that he has at least one other answer: "I have a better idea." That answer, in turn, includes a further answer: "Give me what you have."

Disciples from that day to this, as a whole, have not responded much better than that; we respond to the divine imperatives with excuses.

But notice; when the disciples gave Jesus what little they had, it became more than enough in his hands. That's a hard lesson to learn. Shortly after Jesus fed the 5,000, he fed the 4,000, and the disciples responded to that challenge as if they had entirely forgotten the earlier miracle. Jesus had to remind them of both feedings a little later on.

When we pray, we need to learn to hear when God says, "I have a better idea," and especially when he says, "Give me what you have." Blessing comes from obedience. To miss the divine command is to miss the blessing, both the blessing we could have received and the blessing we could have passed on to someone else.