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When God Says "No"
Chris Adsit, Associate National Director of Discipleship, Military Ministry
The
fellow I was discipling and I were talking about prayer one day, and the conversation
turned to why God sometimes doesn't answer our prayers.
"He always answers our prayers," I said. "It's just that sometimes the answer is 'No.'"
"Why would He do that?" asked my friend. "I mean, if He's got the ability to, and He loves us and wants to see us happy, and if it's not a self-seeking or extravagant request, why shouldn't He?"
"For one of two reasons," I answered. "Either there's something extra good in God's heart, or there's something extra bad in our heart."
"What do you mean?"
"Let's take the first option. Sometimes God will say "No" to a request we have because He has something even better in mind than we could imagine." (1 Corinthians 2:9; Romans 11:33,34).
"You mean, like I might be asking him for a Chevy, but He would rather I have a Cadillac?"
"Perhaps. Or He might rather you take the bus, on which He's planned for you to meet your future wife. You never know in what creative ways God might want to bless you! Then again, He may deny our request because He knows that what we want would be bad for us." (Psalms. 84:11; 2 Corinthians 12:7-10)
"So He would say 'No' to protect me?"
"Exactly. My infant daughter might dearly desire to play with the nice, shiny butcher knife, but I'm going to have to tell her no, because I love her, and want her to keep all ten fingers as long as possible. She might not understand or agree with my decision, but my decision will stand. Or remember how Paul asked God three times to remove his 'thorn in the flesh?' God said 'No' to insure that Paul wouldn't be overcome by pride."
"But then He made up for it by pouring on extra grace, right?"
"Right!" said I. "And Paul said he liked that answer even better! So one primary reason why God will say 'No' to our prayers is because He wants to improve upon them - something 'extra good' in His heart!"
"You mentioned a second reason," my friend said. "Something `extra bad' in my heart?"
"Yes, sometimes God says 'No' because of sin in our lives. (Psalms 66:18; Isaiah 59:2). God loves to grant us our requests, but He has priorities - and top priority for Him is that our relationship with Him remains unhindered. If there is anything going on in our lives that is jeopardizing that relationship, it becomes the focus of God's attention until it is resolved."
"You're saying that God gets 'tunnel vision' about that issue?"
"In a way, yes. When we sin, it isn't an event that happens once and then it's over. It's effects linger. If we don't confess it and repent, we become hardened, calloused, and a little more prone to do it again and again. Eventually, it can destroy us. (Hebrews 3:13; James 1:14-16). Even if we don't recognize this, God does, and He won't allow us to 'change the subject' until it's dealt with."
"What do you mean, 'change the subject'," my friend asked.
"That's what we're doing when we refuse to deal with sin in our lives and yet continue to come to God with our requests. It's like this: let's say you came to me and wanted to borrow my pickup truck so you could help your friend move. But as we stood talking, I noticed a red stain on your shirt sleeve. I pointed it out to you, but you told me to forget about it, and continued to explain your need for the truck. The stain began to grow rapidly, and soon it was clear that you had a deep cut, and the blood was beginning to pool at your feet.
"I became alarmed, and offered to take you to the hospital. But you became impatient with me. Here you were, coming to me with a legitimate, selfless request, and all I could do was bug you about this little scratch - which you were sure was of no consequence and would soon heal up.
"But it became obvious to me that if I didn't get you to the hospital soon, you wouldn't be alive to help your friend move. So despite your pleas, I had no regard whatsoever for your request. Instead, I did all I could to get you to the doctor.
"In the same way, we might be coming to God with noble requests, but God isn't going to bother listening if He sees sin in our lives, cutting us to ribbons. Helping you get rid of the sin becomes His top priority, and everything else will just have to wait."
Special thanks to Gospel Communications Network for the use of the Bible Gateway!
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