I used to have a very close friend who at one time was believing God for a pretty big miracle. Time was going along and she was not seeing any results. To be honest, she wasn’t “doing” anything about helping the miracle along except praying. From a human viewpoint, there were probably some other things she could have been doing alongside prayer.

She made the mistake of sharing her heart at a small prayer meeting, asking for prayer support. Boy was she sorry she did. A guy who sort of took the lead in the group looked straight at her and declared: “Well you can’t drive a parked car.”

His comment did not bring encouragement. Rather, in an emotionally fragile state, she felt condemned and inadequate. He was telling her not to expect God to come through for her unless she did all she could do first. It was kind of like that popular saying: “God helps those who help themselves.” (By the way, that is nowhere in the Bible.)

I’ve never forgotten the lessons I learned from that episode. One is how wise it is to pray for seasoning any words of advice you give so they will help and not hurt. “But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.” (James 3:17)

The other thing is not to assume you know how God will move. In the end, he did not need my friend’s “help” and she got her answer in spite of the fact that she never tried to start the car herself.

I’d love to have let that man know afterward: “I guess God IS able to drive a parked car.”