The power of a positive "no"

He Moses chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasure of sin for a short time. Hebrews 11:25

 Amy Carmichael, raised in a Scottish home by Christian parents, learned early in life that God answers prayer. One of her earliest memories was praying as a child, “Oh, Lord, please, make my eyes blue tonight!” She went to sleep that night expecting God to honor that simple prayer, and to her disappointment awakened in the morning with eyes just as brown as when she knelt and prayed.

Sometimes God loves you too much to say, “Yes!” No parent can really love his child without learning to say “No.” When God doesn’t give you what you ask, it’s because He has a better plan, and you have to turn your back to what would feel good and you think would be pleasurable, before you find that for which you have been seeking. You can turn a negative “No” into a positive “Yes.” The choice may include loneliness and rejection but the negative is eventually superseded by something better.

Later in life, as a missionary in India, Amy Carmichael thanked God that He ignored her simple request to let her brown eyes and dark hair change color. Because with brown eyes and dark hair, Amy was able to better blend in the culture where blue eyes and blond hair would immediately have identified her as a foreigner.

Lord, teach us the value and strength that comes in learning to say “No.”

Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.I Peter 2:13-17