Did God Ever Tell You NO When You Prayed?
We need to learn to praise the Lord for all of His answers to our prayers. Sometimes we pray about a certain position or move in our lives and God begins closing doors. When God closes a door, it forces us to change our plans and begin to move in a new direction. I am so glad that God has shut doors in my life.
When my children were small, I told them a story about the missionary Amy Carmichael. When Amy was five years old, she wanted blue eyes more than anything. Her mother told her, “You will have to take that up with God.” That night, Amy, full of faith in God, asked the Lord to give her blue eyes. The next morning she went to the mirror and discovered that her eyes were still brown. As she was crying about this unanswered prayer, her mother told her, “Amy, God always answers our prayers. He doesn’t always answer the way we ask Him, but He always answers. His answers are NO, YES, or NOT AT THIS TIME.” Those of you who know the rest of the story of this great missionary know why she was born with brown eyes.
Praise the Lord that He directs our steps through opening and closing doors. Next time you get upset with God because He didn’t answer your prayers the way you told Him to answer it, praise Him. Unseen by you, His answer of NO, not at this time, might be saving you from many future heartaches. It is our wonderful Savior who sees the overall picture of our lives and the best plan for our future.
Next time you begin to grumble about God’s ways, realize that what you consider an unanswered prayer might be a closed door coming from the Master for your good. Didn’t He say … no good thing will I withhold from them that walk uprightly? (Psalm 84:11)
God is directing your path, and He knows exactly what He is doing to bring about His perfect plan for your life. (Psalm 37:23 The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD; and He delighteth in his way.)