The Bible is packed with promises regarding our prayers. “Ask whatever you will and it will be done”, or “God will give you the desires of your heart”, or “God won’t withhold any good thing from those who walk uprightly”. These promises can be interpreted that God always say “yes”. But when his answer is a resounding “No!”, our world and sometimes even our faith is thrown into an upheaval.

I recall an episode of the Andy Griffith Show when Buddy Epstein asks Andy what harm would come if he gave Opie what he wanted. Andy answered that his son wants anything flashy that catches his eyes, but that not everything flashy was good for him. It was his job as a father to protect his son from anything that might cause him harm. We may not feel our petitions are flashy or harmful, but God is already in our futures and he knows before we do what is ultimately good for us or not.

I received a “no” response this weekend to something I had been praying about for over one year. I don’t understand the response, and I certainly don’t like the response because I felt I was praying about something for my greater good as a leader and servant. I find it a challenge to reconcile God’s numerous promises to my stark reality, mostly because I’m leaning on my own understanding, not his. I tell others all the time that God is not bound by the restraints of time, and that he is already present in all of our tomorrows. I need to follow my own counsel. We have to trust that he knows what’s best for us from a futuristic perspective. I see a piece of the puzzle; God already has it completed.

Is it that simple to accept his “no”? Of course not, because we won’t understand it until we are standing where he is now and looking back. For now we have questions and disappointments, “looking through the glass dimly”. Trust God when he says “no”. Believe that he isn’t being harsh but loving, seeing the whole path you are just stepping onto. Don’t pull away in disappointment or discouragement, but lean ever more heavily on him, even against your own will, knowing that God’s current denial is leading to something you could never have imagined.