One time my sister disrespected my dad and a few months later she lost her job. My dad later told us that he had asked God to make my sister lose her job. Does God really take orders from people? I sometimes hear my dad say ‘If you disrespect me, I’ll ask God to destroy your future.’
No! God does not take orders from people. There are two issues involved here that I can think of: 1) If your dad is a true believer in Jesus Christ, he should know better than to ask God for something like this; 2) Instead of asking God to discipline your sister, he should be the one administering discipline in a loving, yet firm way.
Scripture is clear that when we ask God for something, it must be “according to His will, not according to our will.” We read of this in 1st John 5:14-15, “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, IF WE ASK ANYTHING ACCORDING TO HIS WILL, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.” Was it God’s will for your sister to lose her job? He may have allowed this to happen, but not because her dad asked Him to. It seems to me that your dad wanted her to be punished for disrespecting him and instead of doing his duty as a father (and handling the matter himself), he asked God to “take his place.”
A passage that comes to mind is Ephesians 6:1-4 which reads, “CHILDREN, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honor your father and mother,’ which is the first commandment with promise: ‘that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.’ And you, FATHERS, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.” We have instruction here for children and fathers. You and your sister should honor your father and mother and “obey them in the Lord.” Unless your dad tells you to commit sin, which would dishonor the Lord, you and your sister should obey him. This will bring blessing to you and respect to your dad. He, on the other hand, is instructed to: 1) not provoke his children to anger, and 2) bring them up in the ways of the Lord. When a child does disrespect their father (or mother), the father should NOT lose his temper and discipline a child out of anger, which will only lead to the child getting angry. Nor should he neglect the discipline the child needs at that time and simply ask God to act on his behalf. What he asked God to do reveals his anger, for instead of “seeking her good” by meting out loving discipline to her that could bring her to confess her sin of disrespect, he was “seeking revenge” for the disrespect shown to him. Of course, in saying this I’m simply going by the account you gave to me. There may have been an act of discipline from your father that you never mentioned, but from what you have said, he acted in anger by asking God to punish her severely.
If you and your father are believers in Christ, I would encourage you to pray about respectfully talking to your dad about this. The passages I’ve cited (from 1st John and Ephesians) could be read to him in love. This would show him that 1) he can’t dictate to God what should be done in the disciplining of his children, and 2) he should not become angry when dealing with his children in discipline, but seek their spiritual good. We read in Hebrews 12:6-11 about God the Father’s loving discipline to His children and we learn in verse 6, “For whom the LORD loves He chastens.” Love is the true motive behind God’s discipline and it should be the motive of all Christian fathers as well. May the Lord be pleased to use His word to bring blessing to you, your sister, and your dad by showing you the love and respect you should all have towards one another. (DO) (552.1)