I firmly believe God always answers. He hears every prayer, every thought. In Psalm 56:8 it says "You have kept count of my tossing; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?" Our God knows what we desire.
And sometimes He says no to those desires.
I don't know about you, but sometimes I go through seasons of "no's." Rejection of dreams, rejection of hopes, rejection of plans which cut to the deepest part of me. But what I struggle with, and I'm not alone in this, is making sure I do not confuse a rejection of dreams for a rejection of self. What I mean by this is that sometimes when I feel God closing all the doors on my hopes it can often feel like the world or God Himself is rejecting me. And that my fellow Sojourner is so far from the truth.
Jeremiah 29:11 is a common verse quoted in times like this, "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." But often times people just quote this verse and never read further, but I would argue that's where we should be focusing. Verse 12-14 continues on with "Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile."
When God says no to the plans we have for our life, or when we thought God was directing us on one path and then when that path leads us to a dead end it can be awfully discouraging. And hearing that He has plans for me that are better, doesn't always help my mood. "But God I was searching after your will! I felt you guiding me towards this. This isn't the plan I thought you had for me." This is where I reach my breaking point: when I desperately am trying to match my desires to His and I still come up short. But verse 12 says, "I will hear you." He hears us wrestling with His will.
Why does God often lead us towards paths of "no"?
Well maybe ask a couple different questions...
What if this plan that God holds for me will allow me to find God and know Him even deeper? What if in the wrestling and in the "no's" He is awaiting to restore our fortunes and gather ourselves back to Him? What if the plans I felt God was calling me to was Him reaching out to me to just obey him even if the road still ends up being a dead end?
What if God wanted me to endure the process of "no's" to mold my heart into saying "yes" to Him?
Oh how the Lord knows how I struggle with trust.
Rejection and no's hurt like crazy. Trusting God in the no's is a challenge and oh how I wish we could learn trust in the "yes's" of life. But I would argue you can't, not truly. Will we trust that God's plans are still good even in the "no's"? I want to be a follower of Christ that when faced with rejection, immediately turns to God and exudes thankfulness for God answering and directing me in a new path. Because at least He cared enough to answer at all. But I think it's also important to mourn loss dreams. Loss hopes. Mourning the loss of dreams is us recognizing that we live in a fallen world where we do not know God's plans immediately. We are mourning the fact that something isn't right. The fact that there is in fact a disconnect in this world.
"For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience," Romans 8:22-25.
We wait for God's plans to happen. We wait for him to redeem this world. We accept the "no's" He has for us because they are opportunities for us to trust Him. To be expectant for His coming plans and to wait patiently for them.
I am expectant of His plans. I am expectant that His will, will prevail because it always does. And sometimes we have to receive "no's" in order for His will to be done.
