Have you ever asked God for something, and He outrightly said no? Well, it’s among the hardest pills to swallow. Why would a God who asks you to ask of Him anything – even nations – say no to your seemingly simple requests?
Letting go of the dreams, hopes, desires, and expectations closest to our hearts is a hard thing. I call it the power of imagination. When you desire something so deeply, your mind goes all out to create scenarios of your new self with accomplished dreams. In the moment, it feels like nothing else matters aside from the current dream. It is hard to imagine a life where all that is impossible.
But then being Christian, you must have read what the Bible says about man making plans and God being the One instructing his path (Proverbs 16:9). No wonder the saying goes, “Man plans and God laughs.”
I have to say, I have nothing against planning. If anything, I am quite the planner myself. It should say something about how rough my relationship with God has been. There is nothing nice about plans being disrupted – but nice has nothing to do with how God operates.
So easily we forget that God is the creator – nothing is new to Him. He has your entire life wrapped around His finger. He knows the end from the beginning. So, it’s really not that God is laughing at your plans, but more at how in the dark you must be about your life.
The no’s of God should bring to light the fact that your life is really not your own. Even though you have a few years of experience in your own body, you know very little about yourself.
So, unless you have been refined like gold in fire, you know nothing. Your plans are misaligned with God’s will for your life.
The instant you decide to make Jesus the Lord of your life, you submit to a remodeling of your entire life. Think of it as you welcoming Him to your home to dictate the terms of your house décor, your meal plans, your finances, and even the color of your beddings. Submission to God looks like making plans and watching be thwarted right before your eyes – all because they are misaligned.
I remember a time I had way too many no’s from God that it made me question this whole Christian thing. Does God even love me as much as He says He does?
Well, I’m now finding out that He loves me way more than I’ll ever know. When people often told me that His no’s were only for protection, I didn’t get it – but now I do. The story of Adam and Eve in the Garden comes to mind when meditating about this issue. After they had eaten the fruit, God cast them out of the garden. It must have seemed harsh to Adam and Eve to be cast out of the safety of the garden, but from God’s point of view, it was the ultimate protection and His Grace. Had they eaten of the other fruit (of life), they would have been stuck in immortality as fallen beings. They would have been the same as the devil.
Whatever happened to Adam and Eve in the Garden has an explanation because it is clear in the Bible. But it won’t be the same for you. You will have more questions than answers. You will feel frustrated and wonder why the Bible seems to be a whole big lie. A good question I had was, “Shouldn’t the expectations of the righteous not be cut off?” Well, the Bible does assure us that they shouldn’t. But when you think about it, are our particular expectations as righteous as we imagine? Are they not to glorify the self? My guess would be yes because this was me too.
Now, I am happy to report that things are a bit smoother with God. I trust Him a little bit more than I did before – although I really need to pull up my socks. I find that my requests are a lot more Kingdom-like than before. Sometimes, I even shock myself with my expectations. Still, it does not mean that I get all yes’s. When it’s a no, it is just as frustrating as you would imagine. But I’m learning that submission to Jesus will look like that sometimes.
So, next time God says no to moving your mountains or parting your seas as Lauren Diagle said, I hope you can trust Him. I hope you take time to learn your Father’s heart in the Scriptures so that you can always trust His actions. I hope you surrender to remodeling so that your desires can align with His will and purpose for your life. I hope the no’s make you smile because they are a sign that He is ordering your steps. I hope you take a little time to grieve the lost dreams and desires, but then you snap right back. May He give you the grace to trust Him.
“Child, trust Me”, Love, your Father.
