Does A ‘No’
Teach Me Anything?
But he said to me, “My grace is
sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore, I
will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ
may rest upon me. 2 Corinthians 12:9
Two young boys
were spending the night at their grandparents’ house. At bedtime, the two boys
knelt beside their beds to say their prayers. The youngest one began praying at
the top of his voice, “I pray for a new bicycle, for a new play station. I pray
for a new mobile.”
His older
brother leaned over and nudged the younger brother and said, “Why are you
shouting your prayers? God isn’t deaf.” To this the younger one replied, “I know
God isn’t, but Grandpa is!”
Often times when
we pray we may wonder if God is deaf because we do not receive an answer, or
the answer we desired. Yet, God has promised that if we call unto him he will
answer us. However, we often forget that “No” too is an answer. With regard to
our VBS in London when our first visa application got rejected we were informed
that the whole of St. John’s church was on knees praying that the second time
our visa be accepted. But we forgot that “No” can also be an answer.
There appears to
be many occurrences in the Bible where god says “No” to different prayers. Ronald
Dunn, in his book Don't Just Stand There,
Pray Something: The Incredible Power of Intercessory Prayer says, “Our
responsibility is to ASK; God’s responsibility is to ACT!”
We all might
have prayed to God and asked Him to heal us or a loved one from some sickness,
or to deliver us from some affliction, or to spare us from some persecution, or
to receive something in our life, only to receive “no” as the answer? What are
we to do when God says no to our request?
Paul had a bold
and fearless faith, but even this giant of the faith received a “no” from God! Paul
enjoyed wonderful revelations from God on more than one occasion, often seeing
things the human eye has not seen, hearing things that the ear has not heard,
and being left speechless at times because words could not describe what he had
experienced. One such occurrence was when the Lord allowed Paul to catch a
glorious glimpse of heaven. After seeing such a spectacular vision, God allowed
Paul to be afflicted so that he would not become puffed up or exalted beyond
measure. God wanted to make sure that Paul’s heavenly experience did not go to his
head.
The result was
that Paul was given a “thorn in the flesh”
Although many speculate as to what this “thorn” of Paul’s was, no one knows for
sure. But one thing is for sure, Paul was affected severely enough to ask God
three times to remove it, and God’s answer was, “My grace is sufficient for
you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness” or in other words No, I will not remove your
affliction, Paul.
The sufficiency
of God’s grace was enough for Paul, and is to be enough for us. Nothing is
wrong with asking God for healing or granting blessing or to eliminate
suffering or erase affliction, but sometimes His answer might be no, and that
no is for a good reason.
The answer to
Paul’s prayer was not to be found in the removal of this difficulty from his
life, but in what the difficulty was going to produce in him. God used the circumstances
of his affliction to produce in Paul a stronger character, that developed a
deeper trust in God’s sovereignty, which would grow in humility, and a produce character
that would see the strength of God displayed through his afflictions. Paul came
to see that his affliction was not only drawing him closer to God, but was also
being used to keep him from sinning against God.
God’s answer of
no was not to keep something good away from Paul, but to add something even
better to his life, and that something was grace. Oftentimes a no from God is
necessary for us to realize that we need to rely on Him more than rely on
ourselves less.
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