“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11
“No” is just not a favorite word for most people. Nothing makes a toddler push out their bottom lip and tears run down their face faster than the word “No.”
As a “Believer” and a “Faith person,” I’m called to believe and not doubt, and when doubt tries to creep in, I’m to believe harder, deeper, and stronger. But, what do you do when the thing you’re believing God so deeply and earnestly for, He answers with a “No”. We thank Him! It sounds simple and good, but to get to the place where you can thank Him for a “No” may not come easy.
In my recent “Believing” for something, I found myself guarded, wanting to make sure I only feed on things that would build my faith. Then riding in the car, I heard for the first time the song by Lauren Daigle titled “I Will Trust In You.” When the song reached the chorus, “When you don’t move that mountain, I needed you to move” I realized the message in those lyrics was contrary to where I was, so I quickly turned it off. You see, I wanted that mountain to move so badly that it was literally all I could think about. I made those confessions of faith. I spoke to that mountain, but the mountain just wouldn’t move. Exhausted from the fight, I lay before the Lord one day and wept. Then, I said the words to Him He had wanted to hear from me for weeks. “Father, I want Your will and plan for my life. You Lord are Alpha and Omega, the Beginning, and the End. And You, Father, are already at the end of this. Father, if you see that in the end I would not be at the destiny and plan that You have for my life, then I ‘m asking you not to move that mountain. Don’t open that door, but let it stay closed.”
What came from that heart felt sincere prayer was a flood of confirmations and a redirection down a new path and the beginning of a whole new season in my life, for which I could not be more grateful. Jesus Himself prayed that same kind of prayer in Luke 22:42 when he said, “Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”
Are you okay with a “No” from the Father? I realize it may hurt like everything to hear it but know that it’s His Grace and Mercy on your life. It’s been said, “God never says “No” without purpose and the foresight for a future “Yes.”