Week 2 — Wednesday: What If He Says, “No”?

Job 13:13-15 

What happens when our prayer is answered with a “No” or a “Not yet”? But as far as we are concerned, a “Not yet” is a “No.” What if our request is valid, good, proper, nothing wrong with it, but the worst happens? People suffer. God allowed people to suffer. Maybe you suffered and God did nothing. You prayed regarding the situation and God said, “No.” It’s normal to feel hurt, confused, maybe betrayed, but you know God doesn’t do those things. So what are you to make of the situation? 

I felt all those things when the biggest “NO” happened in my life, and my family and I went through the most heart-breaking years of our lives and are still dealing with the after-effects to this day. Is God still worthy of worship? Is He still good and merciful? Is God still worthy of my worship, my focus, and my prayers? Yes. Even if I don’t understand what an all-knowing God is doing, it does not make Him less good. It just confirms that I am not all-knowing and I need an all-knowing God to make the right decisions that I don’t understand how to make. 

We may need to ask once again, who is the God we pray to? Remember, all the disciples suffered mightily and died martyr’s deaths. Does that fit into yours and my understanding of what we signed up for? Hopefully we humbly pray to an almighty God, knowing we do not even deserve to be heard were it not for the blood sacrifice of Jesus. I hope we ask knowing whether we receive our request or not, it is for our good, not because we are so good, but because HE is so good. 

—CONTRIBUTED BY ROY DOOLEY—