When God’s Answer is No
Over the years, there have been times when my prayers have been answered with a “no.” In the moment, I have often asked God why, and plead like an insistent child. I would try every angle, trying to get the answer I wanted. But I have noticed that God rarely shows me His purpose for the “no” until much later on. Instead, He silently draws me ever closer to Him, reminding me that, when it comes right down to it, He is all I truly need.
This truth came to mind again last week when I turned the page on the daily verse calendar I keep in my classroom and came face to face with this verse:
“Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.” (Psalm 73:25)
If you have read my book Contentment, you may remember that this verse was a source of conviction as I struggled to accept God’s will for my life in a particular area. I disliked the verse, because it reminded me of God’s “no” in that area.
But imagine the joy that floods my heart when I see that verse now from the victory side of the battle, having learned to respond to that “no” with the trusting confidence of a childlike “Yes, Lord.”
I can truthfully say that as I look back over my life, I can see quite clearly that each time God has said “No,” it has only brought me closer to Him. As Elizabeth Elliot so wisely said,
“God’s refusals are always merciful…God never denies us our heart’s desire except to give us something better.”
Instead of giving me what I wanted, God used the necessary “no” to teach me to trust Him, to lean on Him, to rest in His wisdom and perfect plan for me. As I type this, I can see how my life could have gone in so many different directions at so many points in my life, if God would have given me what I wanted in the moment. But I can also see that each of those forks in my path would have led away from God.
How grateful I now am for the times when God closed a door I was certain I should go through!
Another verse that comes to mind when I think about God’s “No” answers is Psalm 84:11
“For the Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly.”
God only gives good gifts, dear Reader. We may wonder at them at times, but we cannot see all that He has planned. The many “gifts” for which I have prayed, but never received are the very things I now thank God for never giving. In each case, His gift was the withholding of the thing I desired, for He knew that refusal would make the way clear for His good and perfect gifts.
So if you’re struggling today with God’s “no” about something in your life He has either given or withheld, remember that His gifts are always good in the end, and trust Him!
“For we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28