Chapter 15: Divine Correction (When God Saves You With A “No”)
The Every Day Supernatural
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Chapter 15: Divine Correction (When God Saves You With A “No”)
When we pray, we typically want God to say “yes.”
But there’s a benefit to trusting an all-wise God with our requests: He knows when “no” is a better answer.
In the natural way of thinking, God says “yes” if you’re good and “no” if you’re bad. Many religions treat prayer in this way.
But in Christianity, everything is different — because our God is alive.
We aren’t sending good vibes out to the universe, wishing for good karma to return to us. We’re trusting a living, wise, caring Father who always knows what’s best.
This reorients how we regard prayer. We no longer think that the “good” people get a “yes,” and the “bad” get “no’s.” Rather, we trust that God knows the deep realities of every situation, and will give us life-giving answers, even when they aren’t what we asked for.
Consider Paul and his companions. They were stellar Christians, the “best of the best,” to use human reckoning. Yet God redirected them often from what they wanted to do:
Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. (Acts 16:6–10, NIV)
It’s easy to imagine this being rather frustrating.
Paul and his companions only want to preach the Gospel and see people get saved. Yet God kept saying, “No, you can’t go preach there.”
Why?
Why would God keep telling these super-Christians “no?”
Because God knows far more than we do, and He knew that Macedonia needed their help more.
This wasn’t a judgmental “no” because Paul wasn’t spiritual enough. It was a loving “no” so that Paul would be free to go where the need was most dire.
Dead religion can’t correct us, because mute idols can’t speak to us. Human-made philosophies can’t redirect us. The humans who teach these philosophies might rebuke us, but human-made thought systems have no transcendent power to redirect us even when we’re doing what’s right.
Paul and his companions weren’t sinning. They were giving their lives to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. They didn’t need any bad behavior corrected. Their correction was entirely supernatural: the God who sees more than we do prevented them from doing something good, so that they would be free to do what was even better.
When I was younger, God redirected me. I was not nearly as noble as Paul; while he was proclaiming the Gospel, I was in school, studying. I had enjoyed a brief relationship with a young woman, before she chose to break it off.
I hoped the relationship would continue, so I chose to pray — and fast. For nine days, I avoided food, so that I could pray more and ask God to revive this relationship.
I entered this fast seeking a “yes,” hoping that my fervent prayer (boosted by my fasting!) would incline God to give me what I hoped for.
I exited the fast having been turned entirely around.
God didn’t say “yes” to my request. God let that relationship stay dead. But during the fast, God changed my heart. He gave me a loving “no” so that I would be freed from pushing in a direction He didn’t want me to go.
When the fast was done, I was at peace with where God had led me. It wasn’t at all where I thought we were going when I entered the fast.
But that’s how good God is.
Entrust God with your prayers, my friends. Seek Him constantly.
Often He’ll say “yes.” He loves to give good gifts to His children.
But sometimes, He’ll say “no.” When He does, trust Him. He knows what He’s doing.
It just might be the “no” that frees you up for what God is calling you to do.
Thank you once again Kyle for an excellent word of truth..