When God Says "No"

"No, don't eat those, buddy!"

Working with preschoolers, I end up saying "no" a lot.

Sometimes it's things you might expect (If I had a nickel for every time I say "No, don't put that in your mouth"...).

Sometimes its a little weird - "No, don't eat your foot, buddy. That's gross."

Sometimes it's downright hilarious. To date  the best one is "No- we don't hit our friends over the head with a lawnmower!" Don't worry- it was plastic, and no one was seriously injured. Except I might have cracked a rib trying not to laugh because that really just came out of my mouth.

But regardless of the subject matter "no" is never a popular answer with the kiddos. And I can understand that. I mean, are grown-ups really any better? Oh we make it sound nicer. But are we really, truly, any better at hearing "no" ?

A couple summers ago, on a sticky, starry August night, I was sitting on the church curb with a friend. All summer I'd been praying desperately for God to bring in the support I needed, and this sweet new believer had prayed right along with me. But this night it was clear: the support was not coming, and it wouldn't be coming for a long time. "Wow," she said, "What do you do when you pray so hard for something good, and God says no?"

It's a profound question. Like many profound questions, it boils down to a simple choice between two views of God. #1 God is mean and picky - I must not have prayed right or He must be mad at me or He doesn't really love me, or , or or. #2 God is who and what He says He is: good and wise and sovereign and loving- even when I didn't get what I wanted.

After all, getting what you want is not necessarily a good thing.

Like in the garden of Eden. Adam and Eve really wanted the fruit of the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  But if you stop and think about it.... didn't they already know about good? They lived in a perfect garden, had perfect relationships and God literally walked with them every day. Surely, if ever two humans have had a knowledge of good, it was Adam and Eve. But they wanted more: they wanted to decide for themselves what was good, and what was evil. They decided God was being unreasonable and so, they ate to gain, not just knowledge of good, but knowledge of evil.  Oh boy, did they get what they wanted. Thousands of years later, Adam's children are still discovering new breadths and depths of evil.

Like Adam and Eve, I can ignore the loving wisdom of God's "no". It's tempting, SO tempting to ignore God's no and pursue that job, that guy, that money, or that place. Either by a horrible attitude, or by taking matters into my own hands I can try to get to what I want. Sometimes God lets me get around His roadblocks and get what I want. CS Lewis put it this way- "But those who steal, or those who climb (the) wall, shall find their heart's desire, and find despair."

I have prayed for many, many things. And many times, God has graciously given me what I asked for. Even above and beyond. But I have become convinced that God's love and wisdom are rarely so evident as when He says, "No."