让我们来思考一个事实：祷告的答案并非总是我们想得到的。我们称这为「祷告蒙应允的痛苦」。有一位讲员说，他向会众讲了一系列关于引导的讲道，到最后一堂的时候，他鼓励会众回去作一个实验，他说：「按照我所给予你们的原则去做，然后告诉我有甚么情况。」

几个星期后，他留意到一位听取了整个系列讲道的妇人没有回来参加聚会，他于是前往探望她。见到那妇人的时候，他问她为甚么不来参加敬拜。妇人说因为她将讲员所教关于引导的原则付诸实行后，感到很失望。这位牧者听后很焦急地问她：「究竟发生了甚么事？难道你没有听到神给你的回应吗？」妇人回答说：「不，我听到了，我听到我应该写信给我的弟媳，因为我七年前跟她吵了架。只是我就是不想那样做……」

在我给你们讲述这个故事时，我想到一句你们必定是很熟悉的经节：「光来到世间，世人因自己的行为是恶的，不爱光，倒爱黑暗，定他们的罪就是在此。」（约三19）。请让我重复一个重点：永远不要忘记，当你向神祈求亮光的时候，神所向你显示出来的可能超过你的祈求。

We are spending time meditating on the fact that the answers our prayers receive are not always the answers our hearts desire. This we are calling "the pain of answered prayer". A preacher tells how he preached a series of sermons to his congregation on the subject of guidance, and in the last message of the series he encouraged them to put the matter to personal test. "Follow the principles I have laid before you," he said, "and let me know what happens."

Several weeks later, he noticed that one woman who had attended the whole of the series on guidance no longer attended the services - so he decided to call on her. During the course of his visit, he asked what was the reason for her non-attendance at church. She said that it was due to the disappointment she had experienced after putting into operation the principles he had taught on guidance. "What happened?" asked the minister, anxiously. "Did you hear nothing?" "Oh, yes," she replied, "I heard something all right. It came to me that I ought to write to my sister-in-law, the cat, with whom I quarrelled seven years ago. I just won't do that..."

The verse that comes to my mind as I tell that story is one I am sure you will know well: "This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because there deeds were evil" (John 3:19). At the risk of being repetitive, the point is so important that it must be made yet again: never forget that when you pray for light, it may reveal far more than you wish.