Forgiven!

So... my phone forgave me!  I'm serious!  A couple of evenings ago, I experimented with the new Siri feature on my  iPhone 4s.  My phone has tons of information programed right into it somewhere and I can get whatever answer I want with a flick of my wrist and a phrase or two.  I held up the phone, looked it square in the face and asked a question; a fairly simple one.  The phone vocally repeated my question as it heard it and gave a strange answer.  John and I were astounded!  I asked the same question again and again giving the phone many opportunities to understand correctly.   I guess Siri was not used to me yet because his responses were all strange and quite funny.  Finally, I raised my voice and very clearly enunciated into the phone, "YOU DON'T KNOW S---!!!"  The phone went silent...  it gave absolutely no response...  I felt like a real jerk...  I was off to a bad start with my phone!  I had no business speaking like that!  I guess Siri was really trying his hardest to understand and was actually listening very closely... and that was no way to talk to a phone.  So I quietly said, "I'm sorry..."  and my phone actually answered, "That's OK.  Really."

So as I was sitting there quite freaked out that my phone so closely resembled real intelligence and forgave me, I could not help but compare this incident with some of my prayers to God.  I make my requests to God for all kinds of things and I don't think that's wrong, but God understands me better than I understand myself and often responds with something very different.  I don't always understand His strange or funny answer so I keep asking and asking and asking (insisting)   I might even get frustrated and think He is not listening.   Thankfully, I stop short of swearing...

Then I'm reminded of the Scripture that says,  'The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are attentive to their prayers. (1 Peter 3:12)  Since God does not lie in His Word, I have to believe that He listens.  He cares.  He answers.  He does not always answer the way I think because He knows better.  He forgives me when I have a bad attitude.  He forgives me when I do dumb stuff or get impatient or rude.  He says to me, "Child, I'm listening.  I paid the price for all those wrongs.  Accept My forgiveness.  It's OK.  Really."