When God Says “No”

Cats are weird.

I’m not a cat person, but God must have thought I needed one because he allowed me to find Bella in the woods next to my home. She was a tiny little thing, and, yes, I took her in. Since that time, I’ve tried hard to understand her. It’s a daily struggle because, well, she’s just weird.

One of our battles is that she hates her once-a-month topical medication for fleas, worms, ticks, etc. She HATES it. She has a calendar hidden somewhere in this house, with a red circle on the 1st of the month and the word D-DAY written on it. The morning of the 1st? She goes incognito and completely disappears. It takes me a while, but I finally win and get the oil onto her back – and oh…the agony of it all. She hides only to return just to give me the dreaded stink eye. Even though I do it for her good, she is still angry and doesn’t understand why.

The look she gives me is as if I’ve done something or allowed something terrible to happen to her, and I don’t care or am not taking her feelings, wants, and needs into account. It’s as if she knows best, and I, as her caretaker, am allowing her to be mistreated, even though it’s well within my power to stop it. As I hold her, she whines and fights to get away – but knowing that the alternative is so much worse – my answer is No. Yes, I hear her complaints, and it does break my heart to see her struggle, but knowing best – my answer is still No.

Paul’s testimony is a miraculous one of grace, forgiveness, and mercy. God loved Paul so much that He pulled out all of the stops to get his attention, forgive him of his past, set him on a different road, and call him to a ministry that would change history. But God still told Paul No.

Paul had a thorn in his flesh. It was a hardship, something painful, something frustrating that he had to endure. He suffered with this thorn, physically or emotionally, until his death. He described and testified of his thorn in his letter to the church in Corinth:

II Corinthians 12:7-9

7 -Therefore, to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.

8 – Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.

9 – But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in Weakness.” Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

Looking through this passage, here are my takeaways:

7 – Paul’s view was that this issue was given to him by Satan. It was placed upon him to keep him from being prideful and conceited. It kept him humble.

8 – The thorn (as he describes it) was so much of a struggle for Paul that he prayed over and over, believing that God would take it from him. Three times, he pleaded with God to heal him physically and emotionally or stop whatever was causing him to suffer. He pleaded… Just take it from me. A thorn is something that is nagging, and if it is not removed, it causes limitations in your ability to do things – or at least makes it more difficult. It’s always there and it’s hard to ignore.

9 -Paul finally received an answer to his prayer. God told him that He would not take the thorn away but give Paul what he needed to live with it. Paul would now have to rest in the strength God gave him instead of being healed and resting in his own strength. And when Paul did get through it – he would only be able to testify that it was God who brought him through — not in his own strength because the problem still existed. It was not removed – God just walked through the issue with him.

What a testimony. Every situation is different, but if God had said Yes and taken away the thorn Paul suffered, Paul may have become less dependent on God. He may have been less likely to lean on the strength of God. The old “I can do it myself” pride may have set in, and he may have become conceited in his ways and less usable by God. Paul was a strong- willed, learned man with connections and a man whose personality God could use to win others to a belief in Jesus, but God knew that he might have to put a bridle on him to direct his steps and keep him under control.

God knew best for Paul.

God knows best for us.

So, today I look back at the many times that God said No to me. I look back at the times of feeling sorry for myself, not understanding why He wouldn’t do what I knew He could do and I now thank God that He said No.