A Cautionary Note

Here's something I read a few years ago. I didn't remember the exact place I had read it. I re-encountered it a few days ago. Just thought I'd share it with you:
" ... it is reasonable and understandable that the question is often asked: 'Why can't we take a specific and troubling dilemma straight to God, and in prayer secure from Him sure and definite answers to our requests?'
This can be done, but it has hazards. We have seen [alcoholics] ask with much earnestness and faith for God's explicit guidance on matters ranging all the way from a shattering domestic or financial crisis to correcting a minor personal fault, like tardiness. Quite often, however, the thoughts that seem to come from God are not answers at all. They prove to be well-intentioned unconscious rationalizations. The [alcoholic], or indeed any man, who tries to run his life rigidly by this kind of prayer, by this self-serving demand of God for replies, is a particularly disconcerting individual. To any questioning or criticism of his actions he instantly proffers his reliance upon prayer for guidance in all matters great or small. He may have forgotten the possibility that his own wishful thinking and the human tendency to rationalize have distorted his so-called guidance. With the best of intentions, he tends to force his own will into all sorts of situations and problems with the comfortable assurance that he is acting under God's specific direction. Under such an illusion, he can of course create great havoc without in the least intending it. (emphasis mine)
We also fall into another similar temptation. We form ideas as to what we think God's will is for other people. We say to ourselves, 'this one ought to be cured of his fatal malady,' or 'That one ought to be relieved of his emotional pain,' and we pray for these specific things. Such prayers, of course, are fundamentally good acts, but often they are based upon a supposition that we know God's will for the person for whom we pray. This means that side by side with an earnest prayer there can be a certain amount of presumption and conceit in us..."Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., Copyright 1952. Pp 103-104.
I remember thinking when I first read it "Havoc; yeah, especially if it's the President of the United States!"