How many times have you heard that?  Be careful what you ask for.  There are times when we are exasperated and say some pretty silly things.  How many of you, when you were a child, said to your parents “I wish you weren’t my parents!”?  Perhaps something like this has come out of your mouth:  “I wish I never met you!”  Sometimes we ask God to do something that we would never otherwise ask if we were not in a particular state of mind.  We might ask Him why He put me in this place or why He even spared my life.  You do realize that when you ask God a question like that, or anytime you talk to God, you are praying. 

Think of some of the things that you might have asked God for.  There was this girl or guy that you dated in high school and you were so positive that this was “the one” for you for the rest of your life so you prayed and asked God to make that reality.  Years later, you run into him or her at a reunion and you find yourself thanking God for not answering that prayer, when in reality,  God did answer that prayer.  He had another plan.  I have heard a song by Garth Brooks that is about unanswered prayer.  It was centered around a story similar to the one that I just mentioned with a guy asking God to give her this special girl for his wife.  He finds himself meeting up with that girl years later with his wife at his side, and he thanks God for that unanswered prayer.  God did answer that prayer and His plan was so much better. 

There is a similar story that we find in the Bible in 1Kings 17 where we read the story of Elijah.  The first mention of Elijah is in this chapter and we find him confronting Ahab, the king of Israel. Because of the king’s wickedness God sends him to Ahab to announce that there will be no rain or dew on the land until Elijah says so.  Elijah drops the bomb on the wicked king and then God tells him to go and hide in the Kerith Ravine where he will drink from the brook and God will have the ravens feed him.  Doesn’t that sound like a pretty cool job?  Drop the bomb, go hide, and then wait in a place that was not a five star hotel or resort of any type.  Wouldn’t you think that if you obeyed God and did what He told you to do that the accomodations would’ve been just a little bit nicer?  On top of that, after a short time, the brook dries up.  Why?  Why would God do that?  Was this a surprise to God?  Did it catch God off guard?  Even though all of this happened to Elijah, the presence of God remained and God was faithful to provide for him.  Isn’t it interesting that when the brook dried up, God once again talks to Elijah.  Maybe things are going to get better?  God sends him to a widow that He has prepared for Elijah and when he meets her he discovers that she is almost out of flour, oil and water and is actually getting ready to prepare her last meal for her and her son so that they could then die.  The widow does what the prophet asks because after all, God has already prepared her heart to do so.  Think about that for a minute; you have a young son, you have next to nothing to eat, and this total stranger comes along and tells you to prepare something for him to eat FIRST!  God not only provided for Elijah, He also provided for the widow and her son and the supply did not run out. 

We are told in 1Kings 17:17 that the widows son becomes ill and dies.  Again, why would God do that?  She was faithful, she did what she was asked to do; why?  We are told in the following verse that she has an issue with Elijah and questions him.  God uses Elijah to bring the boy back to life  and they both rejoice in the provision of God.  In the following chapter the Word of God comes to Elijah and tells him to go to Ahab, and he does that with the help of Obadiah who was in charge of the kings palace and even though Obadiah was a devout believer he was concerned for his own life.  As a result, Elijah meets the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel where God makes Himself known to everyone by sending the consuming fire from heaven to all who were there including king Ahab.  When all of the people saw this the Bible tells us that they fell to the ground and cried “The Lord-He is God!  The Lord-He is God” and Elijah told them to put all of the prophets to death right then and there and they did.  Elijah went to king Ahab and told him to head back to his palace because there was a great storm coming that could prevent him from making the trip.  God made Elijah wait again as he sent his servant to look for storm clouds six times but there was nothing.  “The seventh time the servant reported, a cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea.” (18:44)  Ahab takes off back to the palace and the Bible tells us that “the power of the Lord came upon Elijah and tucking his cloak into his belt, he ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel.” (18:46)  This is a pretty cool story!  Read it!  Things are awesome and all is good, right? 

Elijah is by himself and he receives a message from Ahab’s wife, Jezebel that reads like this:  “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.” (19:2 speaking of the prophets of Baal)  Jezebel just had to throw water on the high that Elijah was riding.  She vows to kill him by tomorrow.  Elijah has just witnessed first hand God feeding him twice a day using ravens, the faith of a widow woman, endless flour and oil, the death and resurrection of her son, boldness to go before Ahab, the fire of God falling from heaven, the death of all of the prophets of Baal, the rising of the storm cloud out of the sea at his word, and the ability to run before the chariot of Ahab all the way from Mt Carmel to Jezreel which is believed to be somewhere between 17 and 30 miles.  Think about that!  Elijah has lived a life that had the hand of God all over it and now this:  1Kings 19:3-4 “Elijah was afraid and ran for his life.  When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there while he himself went a day’s journey into the desert.  He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die.  ‘I have had enough Lord’ he said.  ‘Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.’”  Think about that!  Elijah has gone from an unbelievable high to the point where he is asking God to kill him in a very short time.  Have you been there?  What happened?  What got you to that point?  What got Elijah to that point? 

I’m sure that Elijah was tired.  He just finished running a marathon a couple of days earlier.  He was physically tired.  He was emotionally tired.  Imagine the up’s and down’s as he was on Mt Carmel and saw all that God had done knowing full well that all of the prophets and the king wanted him dead.  He called for rain and his servant had to go six times and come back with a report that there was nothing.  That was stressful I’m sure.  I would like to think that the answer can be found in his prayer to God when he says “I am no better than my ancestors.”  For whatever reason, Elijah thought that this might be about him.  What God was doing through Elijah was not based on what Elijah brought to the table.  I think that Elijah might have been thinking that.  He said “I have had enough.”  It was not about Elijah!  Isn’t it interesting that the apostle Paul reminds us that God’s power is made perfect in our weakness. (2Cor 12:9).

Elijah wanted to die and even asked God to kill him.  Aren’t you glad that God does not give us what we ask for?  Take a look with me at how God ultimately answered this prayer.  2Kings 2 tells us that Elijah was walking along with Elisha at his side and they were talking when “…suddenly a chariot of fire and horses appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.”  Hmmmm.  What do you think?  Dying under a broom tree in the middle of the desert or being taken up into heaven by a chariot of fire?  That was a far cry from what Elijah asked for.  He wanted to die and he ended up not seeing death.  Why do we always think that we know what is best?  Why do we think that God needs our help in directing our lives?  Why is it that we forget what He has already done for us?  We all do it!  Just look at the way that we pray.  We might say not my will but Your will be done, but do we really mean it?  May God help us to look back on the landscapes of our lives and see His hand at work and then thank Him.  That would be the best way to start your prayer; thank Him.  And then, Be careful what you ask for!