• When God Says No

    By: Kristen L. McNulty

    Reprint rights available on request. Email the author at kristenmcnulty@hotmail.com.

    I’m sure that we’ve all prayed for something to happen that didn’t.

    While the "God, will you please change my parents' mind about me not being allowed to have a puppy" prayer going unanswered or being answered with a “no” may not cause someone to lose faith, there are others that can. The "God will you please heal my loved one" prayer going unanswered or being answered with a "no" can be devastating when that person gets sicker, or worse, passes on.

    This especially becomes a problem because in some Christian circles the idea that faith determines the outcome is a very popular one. Meaning if you face something unpleasant in your life, all you need to do is have enough faith and you will be able to believe it away.

    As someone who's weathered many storms in my life, I can tell you that's not the case. There are times when we are going to go through hard times and face storms and have our prayers unanswered. And if we start thinking it's a lack of faith or the result of God being upset with us that is why He said no, well I don't know of a quicker way to destroy someone’s faith than to suggest that it’s their lack of faith that is holding them back or preventing them from getting their prayers answered.

    Let’s make something clear – God is God and we are not. If Jesus, the most faith-filled person to ever walk through this fallen world, faced so many trials then who are we to say that faith is the key to all of our problems? Yes, we need to have faith, but there are times when having faith means saying "God, I don’t like this, but because I love You and know that You are good, I’m going to accept this."

    Many times in hindsight, we can see that being told "no" was the very best thing that God could have done for us at the time. Yes, at the time it does hurt and yes, it sometimes means that we're stuck in painful circumstances, but we have to remember that God loves us and He sees what we can't – the whole picture.

    In the book of 2 Kings (which just happens to be one of my favorites!) we encounter a perfect example of this. Everything seems to be rolling along just fine in King Hezekiah's mind, that is, until the storm hits. We read:
    "About that time Hezekiah became deathly ill, and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to visit him. He gave the king this message: 'This is what the Lord says: Set your affairs in order, for you are going to die. You will not recover from this illness.'

    When Hezekiah heard this, he turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, 'Remember, O Lord, how I have always tried to be faithful to you and do what is pleasing in your sight.' Then he broke down and wept bitterly.

    But before Isaiah had left the middle courtyard, this message came to him from the Lord: 'Go back to Hezekiah, the leader of my people. Tell him, 'This is what the Lord, the God of your ancestor David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will heal you, and three days from now you will get out of bed and go to the Temple of the Lord. I will add fifteen years to your life, and I will rescue you and this city from the king of Assyria. I will do this to defend my honor and for the sake of my servant David.'" (2 Kings 20:1-7)


    If you keep reading on, you find out that Hezekiah is healed, exactly like the Lord said he would be. Now wouldn’t it be wonderful if the story ended here? Yes, that would be great, but that’s not what happens. If we keep reading through the account of King Hezekiah’s life we find out, although Hezekiah did live for another fifteen years, they weren’t good years.

    During that time Hezekiah's pride led to the foretelling of the Israelite's becoming captive to the Babylonians. Also during that time Hezekiah fathered a son. This child wasn’t a blessing to either Hezekiah or the nation of Israel. Hezekiah’s son, Manasseh, turned out to be the worst King that Judah had and he ended up undoing most of the good things that Hezekiah had done in his lifetime.

    So while God changed the "no" to a "yes", those fifteen years carried enormous consequences and dare I say that Hezekiah would have been much better off to have accepted God’s plan for his life and depart this earth fifteen years earlier, with a great legacy in tact.

    Sometimes God says "no" but in doing so He really is saying "yes".

    "Yes, I love you."
    "Yes, I know what is best for you."
    "Yes, I am with you always."
    "Yes, you will see good in this."

    Sometimes faith means praying for what we want, but accepting what God gives. Whether that’s a few more years on earth or less pain or more money or less heartache or __________ (fill in the blank).

    But even in the times that we don’t get what we want, it’s not time to stop praying. In fact, there is no better time to do so.

    You may not like God’s response to your desire, but that doesn’t mean that the conversation has to end. Ask Him about it. Tell Him that you don’t like it. When our parents don’t give us something we want, bombs start exploding. The same thing often goes on internally when God doesn’t give us something we want. Yet how often do we hold back with Him? I’m not saying start yelling at God. I’m saying be honest, tell Him how you're feeling and ask for His help in navigating the honest place you're coming from. And in that honesty, you will begin to discover what prayer is all about.

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