God Says No
“Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take away this thorn in my flesh, this messenger of Satan that torments me; but He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” ( 2 Corinthians 12:7-9 ). Maybe you can relate to Paul’s dilemma. Maybe God didn’t save your marriage, heal your mama or some other loved one, get you out of that abusive relationship, bring salvation to someone you’d been praying for, taken that destructive desire from the one you love, etc; etc; etc.. We’re not told what this “thorn-in-the-flesh” was, but we know he prayed at least three times for God to remove it … and God didn’t. Instead, God reminded Paul , and us, that HIS grace is sufficient to see us through the problem, the issue or the circumstances. So why does God say “no” sometimes !?? If you’re a parent or have ever been given the responsibility of herding a buncha younguns, you know as well as i that you don’t give em everything they ask for or let em do anything they want to … sometimes, you haveta tell em “No”. I don’t know what the statistics are, but as many “no’s” as God has given, i can testify personally that He’s had as many “yes’s” and “ok’s”. God ain’t a stingy God … His desire is to grow and mature us in our faith … to hone us into a sharp weapon … to forge us in the fire, so-t-speak, and to make us stronger and better abled to serve Him. Instead o’ meeting His “no’s” with bitterness, anger and a vengeful attitude, why don’t we determine in our hearts that God knows best and must have a good reason. Maybe there’s sin in our lives that He’s waiting for us to repent of and seek His forgiveness. Maybe He needs to put us through something so we’ll know how to handle a task coming up that He’s orchestrating. Maybe He’s just seeing just how much we trust Him … since it ain’t too hard to trust someone if the heat ain’t too high. Our “no’s” for our kids are often met with sullen attitudes and discontentment … they’re “kids” for peets sake ! So, when our Father in heaven gives you / me a “no”, next time, let’s examine our spiritual maturity level by our response. It might not be much different. When we are weak, He is able to provide the strength and prove yet again that He’s God, and we ain’t.