WHEN THE ANSWER IS NO - WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?

When we pray for something really hard, but we don’t get it, does that mean that God doesn’t love us? Well in my opinion, no! The fault – if there is one - is with us.

We may be asking for something that is not in God’s will or plan, or, for something that we want that will not be good for us, or, for some selfish reason that we are not acknowledging.

This has come up for me recently. I was asking to be with my mom when she passed away, but I was on my way out for a planned day trip. My sister and daughter were with her. They held her hands as she passed, making sure she knew she was not alone and that she was loved. They both felt bad for encouraging me to go, because even though we knew she was in her last days, none of us thought it would be that day. I suppose it is always a shock – even when you are expecting it.

As I was in the car, crying, I thought immediately, “I should have been there!” and came down hard on myself. But over the next few hours I realized, probably with help from the Holy Spirit, that God knows what he is doing, and he will put the right people in the right place at the right time. And that was a great comfort to me. I may have wanted to be there, but it doesn’t mean that it was in his will. On the other hand, if it was in his plan, and I didn’t make the right choice, he made sure there were people with her who loved her, and he knew how bad I felt and forgave me, that too is a comfort to me. So, whatever happened, God has been good to me, my mom, and my family.

We don’t always know what we’re asking for. We are very limited in our understanding because we are human and physical in nature, where God is Spiritual in nature. Our whole lives are like the blink of an eye for God. We can never fully understand him, but we can always know that he loves us, because he gave us Jesus on the cross to save us, and what more do we really need?

Ask for truth, seek the Lord, and knock on the door.

This is how I understand my God.

Read for yourself, see what you think. (It is important that you read for yourself as I know I am not perfect and may misunderstand).

John 15:16 says;

“….You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit – fruit that will last – and so whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you….”

James 4:2-4 says;

When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

Ask, seek, knock. (Matthew 7:7-8, Luke 11:9-10)