60 Seconds – Divine Intervention

In his article, Is God Listening?, Kenneth L. Woodward revealed:

“Late on a black, noiseless night in upstate New York, a young woman decided to take a shortcut home – up a steep, unlit path. Then she heard steps behind her, faster than her own. An instant later, a man was upon her, tightening her scarf around her neck and ripping at her pants. At home, the young woman’s mother woke from a deep sleep, seized with fear that something terrible was about to happen to her daughter. The mother immediately knelt down beside her bed and prayed. For 15 minutes, she begged God to protect her daughter. Convinced she had won God’s protection, the mother returned to a sound sleep. Back on the stony path, the would-be rapist suddenly ceased his assault. He cocked his head – almost beastlike – and fled down the hill. Coincidence? Luck? Or divine intervention? Nearly 20 years later, mother and daughter are certain in their belief. That was the devil on the hill, and it was God who sent him away.”

When David was in a cave, hiding from Saul, he said to the Lord, “Attend to my cry” (Psalm 142:6). “Attend” means “to listen with the greatest possible attention, to bend the ear.” It is the same word used by Nehemiah when he needed God to give him favor with King Artaxerxes, “O Lord, I pray, please let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant” (Nehemiah 1:11).

Dr. Alexis Carrel stated, “Prayer is a force as real as terrestrial gravity. It is the only power in the world that seems to overcome the so-called laws of nature.”

In the Kentucky mountains there lived a widow and her small children. One day, she found she had only enough flour for one more batch of flatbread for the children’s school lunches. She knelt in prayer, crying, and said, “Oh, Lord, there is only flour enough for one more day. Tomorrow I must scrape the bottom of the barrel.” Her youngest son asked her why she was weeping. “I am worried,” she said. “We have only flour for one more day and no money.” “But Mommy,” he replied, “God will hear when you scrape the bottom of the barrel.” Through her tears, the mother smiled as her fears vanished. The next day, she sang as she used the last of the meal. Before the day was over, a neighbor came. In prayer, he and his wife had felt led to send some food. The item he brought in was a bag of flour!

“Prayer is weakness leaning on omnipotence” (Christian Life).