When God Says No

Have you ever prayed for something and God was silent? I have and it's one of the reasons I became salty as all get out. Looking back, I think His silence may have been His answer. I just didn’t know it. I took His silence as Him just not caring. In reality, He had something better in store for me that I couldn’t see. Sometimes, we need that "no!" 

Transcript

“It’s the Salt for me”

Podcast Episode 6

When God Says, “No.”

Hey! Welcome to Episode 6 of “It’s the Salt for me, brought to you by The Salty Christian.” I’m your host, Marie. I invite you to subscribe, share and comment. 

This week I wanted to talk about when God says, “no.” When I think back to when I was young, I used to ask my parents for things all the time. Most of the time, they gave it to me, but there were times where they told me “No” and it was in those times that I just knew they hated me and wanted me to be miserable. I mean, why couldn’t I make a pool out of the cab of daddy’s truck. All I needed to do was put some plastic in there and fill it up with water. What was the big deal?! It was hot. Why couldn’t me and my fellow 4-year-old friend slide down the canyon in boxes by ourselves?  Why shouldn’t we have stepped on that pipe on the doom buggy? Why do we have to stay away from the snakes in the desert? Why shouldn’t we stick a bobby pin in a light socket? 

I don’t know about you, but my parents were just hatin’. Couldn’t have no fun! LOL! I may have thought that at the time, but when I got older I could see how making a pool in the back of a truck wouldn’t have been ideal.  When me and my 4-year-old compadre went to slide down the canyon in my backyard, before we could even get going, she fell on a nail, and it went straight through the middle of her hand. Blood everywhere. Screaming like all get out. It was a scene! I understood why I shouldn’t have stepped on the pipe on the doom buggy when my sister did and burned the crap out of her foot! That same sister was the one to also run into the snake right away when we were playing in the desert. Suddenly I’m a little perplexed. I mean, why my parents take their six kids to play in the desert? Seems a little sketch now. Hhahaha! I’m kidding. I have some of the best childhood memories. The point I’m trying to make is that sometimes our parents told us no to stop something bad from happening. Imagine if I had made a pool in the back of the truck and drowned? If something far worse had happened when me and my little friend decided to get on that cardboard and go down that canyon. Had my parents said, yeah, go ahead and stand on that pipe, the first one to find a snake wins! Our parents would never. They say no because they can see the bigger picture. They don’t want us to get hurt. They wanted to protect us out of love. Just like God.

I feel like sometimes we think that when we go to God in prayer that He is going to give us whatever we ask for. No matter how big or small, God is just going to give us whatever we want, and sometimes, He does. Unfortunately, I realized a long time ago that sometimes God’s answer is “no.” That’s where things have always gotten a little messy for me. I think I forget that God can see far more than I could ever see. What I think may be the best thing for me could really be a catastrophic nightmare in the making and I just don’t know. In fact, if I’m keeping it a buck, without going deep into my business, ‘cause ya’ll really don’t need to know, I know this to be factual. God has told me no. 

On one…ok, maybe more than a few occasions, I did what I wanted to do anyway ‘cause I knew better than Him. It always ended badly, but on one such occasion, it changed the trajectory of my life. While I am grateful for a part of it, the other part of it has held my mind hostage for years. There are no do-over’s when you go against God. Because I have free will, I chose to do what I wanted to do. God told me no and I ignored Him and I eventually faced the consequences of my actions.  

Have you ever prayed for something and God was silent? I have and I became salty as all get out. Looking back, I think His silence may have been His answer. I just didn’t know it. I took His silence as Him just not caring. In reality, He had something better in store for me that I couldn’t see. 

Matthew 7:7 in the Bible says, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find, knock, and it shall be opened unto you.”

Sounds great, right? All we have to do is ask and it will be given to us! Holla!

…but when you keep reading, Matthew 7:11 says, “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”

So, know, that if you ask God for something that He knows isn’t good for you, He isn’t going to give it to you. 

On the other hand, sometimes God is just delaying His yes. He comes in His time, not ours. There are reasons for this that we may not understand. Just look at the story of Lazarus. Lazarus had died in the town of Bethany. He had two sisters. Mary and Martha. Mary was the sister who had anointed the Lord with fragrant oi and wiped His feet with her hair. They sent word to the Lord that Lazarus was sick. The Lord let it be known that the sickness was not unto death, but for the glory of God. Jesus stayed where He was for two more days before He said to the disciples that they were going back to Judea. They told Jesus that the Jews sought to stone Him. Jesus told them that their friend Lazarus sleeps and that He will go so that He can wake him up. The disciples didn’t understand that Lazarus was dead and of course they were going, Jesus said so. So, when they got there, Jesus found that Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days. Martha got word that Jesus was coming and went and met Him while Mary stayed at the house with some Jews that were there comforting her. Martha told Jesus, “Lord if You had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.  Jesus told her that her brother will rise again.  Martha said she knew he would rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus told her, look, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die and asked her if she believed. She did. She left and went and told Mary the teacher was calling for her. Mary got up quick and the Jews that were there comforting her followed her. When Mary got to Him, she fell at His feet and said, Lord, if You had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died. In the end, Jesus cried out for Lazarus to come forth out of the tomb. Lazarus came out! Many of the Jews who had seen what Jesus did believed in Him, but you know you always have some haters. 

I think that Jesus said no…or “delayed the yes” to Martha and Mary’s request because all these things had to happen. This is what put everything in motion that led to Jesus being put on the cross. So sometimes He says no because we need other things to happen in our lives first. Sometimes He says no because we need a good old fashion lesson in patience. Or He might just want us closer to Him. I know that whenever I am beaten down, that’s when I run to God. Whatever the case, we need to remember that He works everything together for our good. I’ve seen this happen firsthand. I had been praying for things and had to go through pure and utter hell at one point. I threw myself at the feet of God begging to get me through. I listened and did what He told me to do. No matter what it was. I saw miracles that you wouldn’t believe. He taught me lessons that I didn’t even know I needed to learn. I got through what I was going through with ease. I tend to forget all of this until I end up going through it again. Sadly, for me, it’s been like a vicious cycle. 

On a side note, can you imagine seeing Jesus and having the audacity to say something like, “look here, man. If you had been here, this wouldn’t have happened?” Whew! I’m scared of them!  

Anyway…a lot of things in the Bible happened for the glory of God. I think that it still true today. We need to remember that it’s always for our good – no matter how bad it hurts. Sometimes we have to go through pain and suffering to get closer to God. Sometimes, whether we know it or not, we need that, “No.” Sometimes, we might be praying for the wrong things and not know it. For instance, when I am being tested, I tend to pray that God stops what is happening rather than praying that He gives me peace and understanding or strength to make it through. And I think that shows a lack of faith.  We need to be disciplined enough to give it over to God and trust that He has our best interest at heart. He is going to teach us the lessons we need to learn regardless. We can’t always have what we want and sometimes, we need more than what we are praying for. 

I hope you’ve enjoyed this episode. And I hope this will help you to understand why sometimes God’s answer has to be no. Remember that God loves you whether or not His answer is yes or no. Pray for understanding, knowledge and wisdom. Whatever you do, don’t stop praying. God hears you. He is always there.  

I again invite you to subscribe, share and comment.

I’ll catch you on the next episode of “It’s the Salt for Me.” Until then, be blessed and be a blessing.