Lord, Surprise Me

“The wind blows wherever it pleases.”

John 3:8

A few years ago, a rather routine staff meeting turned into a prayer meeting. All of our staff ended up on their knees. I ended up on my face on the floor. And I prayed a prayer that has been repeated hundreds of times since then. In fact, it has become a prayer mantra: Lord, surprise us.

In one respect, this feels like a dangerous prayer because we have to put our plans on the altar. We have to relinquish control. We have to trust God’s timing. But that prayer was motivated by a genuine desire to see God do something unprecedented — something that superseded our plans, something that we could not take credit for or control. And God has answered this prayer a thousand times in a thousand ways!

One of the most dramatic surprises happened a few weeks after praying that prayer for the first time. Our family was vacationing at a friend’s cabin at Lake Anna, about ninety miles south of Washington, D.C. On the first day we heard a knock on the door. It was a neighbor named Harry, who asked if he could see the cabin. He looked harmless enough, so I invited him in. Within five minutes Harry had offered to let us use his pontoon boat for the week. When we went to his cabin to get the keys, I noticed a book on his coffee table written by a former senator who attended our church. I had a hunch when I saw the book that he might know the senator’s good friend and my mentor, Dick Foth. Sure enough, Harry knew Dick. So I told Harry I would send him a copy of a book I had dedicated to Dick titled Wild Goose Chase. The week after our vacation ended, I sent Harry a copy, and he liked it enough to recommend it to his friend Tom.

Nearly a year after meeting Harry, I got a call from Tom, a deacon at Glen Echo Baptist Church. He introduced himself and explained that GEBC was once a thriving witness in their community but had dwindled to a dozen members. Then he told me they wanted to consider giving their two properties, valued at approximately $2 million, to National Community Church. I couldn’t have been more surprised if he’d said I’d won the lottery without even buying a ticket. And that’s what it felt like.

What profoundly impacted me was the fact that GEBC was courageous enough to recognize that the church was dying and generous enough to give its building to another church. We were surprised and humbled beyond words. Then I remembered our prayer: Lord, surprise us.

Can I make an observation? And I mean this with all due respect. Baptist churches don’t give their churches to non-Baptist churches. To the best of my knowledge, it’s unprecedented. But God always has a holy surprise up His sovereign sleeve. And when we pray, God throws surprise parties!

Every miracle, every blessing, every divine appointment has a genealogy. If we trace them back, we’ll find a genesis prayer that set in motion the sovereign act of God. Am I saying that God cannot do it without us? No, I’m not saying He cannot; I am simply saying He will not.

In His omniscience and omnipotence, God has determined there are some things He will only do in response to prayer. The Bible puts it bluntly: “You do not have^a because you do not ask God.” If we don’t ask, God can’t answer. It’s as simple as that. The greatest tragedy in life is the prayers that go unanswered because they go unasked. I don’t pretend to understand where the sovereignty of God and free will of humans meet, but it motivates me to work like it depends on me and pray like it depends on God. And if we do these two things, God will keep surprising us.

God Knows Every Tom, Dick, and Harry

Our family has a handful of sayings that have been passed down from generation to generation. They are part of our family folklore. I’m not sure where this one originated, but I remember my grandma stating it more than once: you can’t never always sometimes tell. That tongue twister is a mind bender, so here’s the translation: anything could happen!

Now let me redeem this saying and give it a prayer twist. When you circle a promise in prayer, you can’t never always sometimes tell. Anything could happen. You never know when or how or where God will answer it. Prayer adds an element of surprise to your life that is more fun than a surprise party or surprise gift or surprise romance. In fact, prayer turns life into a party, into a gift, into a romance.

God has surprised me so many times that I’m no longer surprised by His surprises. That doesn’t mean I love them any less. I’m still in awe of the strange and mysterious ways in which God works, but I have come to expect the unexpected because God is predictably unpredictable. The only thing I can predict with absolute certainty is this: the more you pray, the more you will experience holy surprises.

I love the reference to wind in John 3. I can’t think of a better description of the way the Holy Spirit works. He is uncontrollable, unpredictable — which can cause angst or excitement. The choice is ours. About the wind, Jesus states, “You cannot tell^b where it comes from or where it is going.” So it is with the Holy Spirit, says Jesus. In other words, you can’t never always sometimes tell. But one thing is certain: if we follow Jesus, our lives will be anything but boring.

When I think about the degree of probability of what happened, it’s mind-boggling. I have no idea what prompted Harry to knock on our door that day. If he hadn’t knocked, I would not have gone over to his cabin, seen a book on his coffee table, mentioned Dick Foth, or sent him a copy of Wild Goose Chase. And, of course, I didn’t know Tom from Adam! But God knows every Tom, Dick, and Harry! And He can orchestrate divine appointments with anyone, anytime, anywhere.

Lord, surprise us!

God always has a holy surprise up His sovereign sleeve.