When God Says No..

How frustrating is it when God tells us no.  As if we are so all knowing and all seeing that we know better than God.  In reality we are mad and frustrated when God says no because we are not getting our own way and God is not doing things the way that we want Him too..  Sound familiar?  Well maybe its just me.  

I occasionally turn into a 2 yr old stomping my feet and throwing a tantrum at God because my prayers have gone unanswered or worse God flat out says no.  

I have been in a 8 yr battle with God over finishing my degree.  I have stopped and started school more time than I would like to admit.  I have tried to start even more times before God has told me to stop.  I don't understand why God is not allowing me to finish.  Thursday when I headed back to work I found myself wishing more than anything that I could be headed back to school full time to finish my teaching degree.  

I LOVE school.  I love going to class the first day and meeting my professors.  I love getting new notebooks and pens and picking out my schedule each semester, I even love tests!!  It has been hard for me to accept God's no and I have continually trie again to get God to change his mind, and yet he refuses to do as I wish!  

This is not the only instance in my life where God has said, no, not now or even said nothing.  In each instance without fail I try to get God to see my side of things, to hear me out just in case he is missing something.  So today as I was continuing in my journey reading "The Circle Maker" by Mark Batterson I was slapped in my face with Chapter Eleven, "No Answer". 

This chapter was such a good reminder to me that I don't actually know anything, much less what is best for my life.  I was reminded that God sees the end from the beginning.  I think where we get into trouble is when we lose sight of listening to what God is saying and obeying the yes' and no's.  

He offers Rev. 3:7, "“Write this letter to the angel of the church in Philadelphia. This is the message from the one who is holy and true, the one who has the key of David. What he opens, no one can close; and what he closes, no one can open" to prove his point.  God opens the right doors and closes the wrong ones.  The difficulty continues to be in learning to discern the will of God.  

The only way to discern the will of God is to be continually filled with the Holy Spirit.  (Eph 5:17)  We serve a good and kind God who wants us to know his will.  he wants us to understand where we are headed and what he is doing.  If we can do what it takes to stay full of his Holy Spirit, praying, seeking God and spending time in his presence, we can learn to know what the will of God is.  He wants to show us.  

Most of all God wants us to trust that he has our best interest at heart, even when, especially when we don't understand.  Trusting God is perhaps one of the hardest obstacles we face as believers.  

So I am headed back to school, the school of learning to trust God with all my heart and not leaning on my own understanding but in all my ways acknowledging him.  I am taking the class on learning to know that He will direct my paths.  Having the wisdom to lean into him and obey is difficult but we must remember he knows way more than we do.  

I hope this encouraged you to trust God even when it's hard, even when you don't understand and especially even when God says no.  

P.S.  Read "The Circle Maker" it will change your life.