When God says NO!

How do you react when God says NO?

Sometimes we have good intentions and a great plan and a selfless vision and God still says NO. Sometimes we think we know better than God, what we need to handle a tough situation. Sometimes we assume we are truly trusting the sovereignty of God but we still get a NO answer to our prayer.

My relationship with my dad was complicated-at best. I have found myself thinking more about him in the past 10 days since his passing than I ever did over the past many years. I did pray for him ALL the time but with regards to actually thinking about his life, his feelings, his dreams, his regrets, his passions……I just didn’t think about him very often.

When he made a decision to step out of my life when I was 19, I was an extremely busy junior in college and I was dating the love of my life (who I married the next summer). I think it was just easier to keep busy with my studies, my ministry with young gals from a local church group and keeping up a long distance romance. Looking back, I realize that I walled off that part of my heart so that the disappointment and hurt would not turn into bitterness and resentment. I was always kind to him and sent him birthday cards and Christmas gifts but his new life did not include me very much. In all fairness, my husband and I moved all over the world those first 15 years that we were married, so seeing my dad and working on my relationship with him was not very realistic.

Although my most pressing prayer for my dad (since I became a born again believer at age 15) was for my dad to soften his heart toward God and accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior, my other regular heartfelt prayer was to have a chance to restore my relationship with him. I am 100 % sure that God answered my prayer for a restored relationship.  Over the past 8 years, he has been welcomed in our home for all holidays, he has spent a few weekends here as well and he and I had many opportunities to talk about important things. He had a chance to get to know my girls and to talk shop (medicine)with my husband and my son-in-law Ashkon. I know he felt loved and cared for in our home. With regards to his spiritual beliefs and the condition of his heart toward God, I have to leave that in the hands of God. Only God knows. Only God needs to know how he responded to the voice of God at the end of his life.

Some may see this as a NO answer to my 42 years of praying for my dad’s salvation but I choose to trust in the sovereignty of God. In reality that NO answer from God is an I DON”T KNOW from my perspective and it forces me to trust God and His plan and His purposes. It does not make me doubt God or His plan. It actually challenges me to stand strong and stick to what I believe. I want to live a life with no regrets. I want to be authentic and really live out what I believe. I want to grow in my ability to trust God and when I do not understand His ways, I will ask for wisdom and trust Him to teach me and help me understand.

In the New Testament, the book of James talks about what we should do when we lack understanding…
James 1:5-8 states:

“If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.”

How will you respond the next time God answers your prayer request with a NO?