When God Says No

The Lord knows the thoughts of mankind; they are futile. —Psalm 94:11

One of my heroes in the faith is Gladys Aylward, a missionary to China who worked tirelessly for the orphaned and oppressed. She once recalled how as a young girl, she had two great sorrows: the shortness of her stature and the “boring” black color of her hair. She often prayed that God would reverse these undesirable traits.

Years later, however, standing in the Asian country where God had sent her, she looked around and saw people everywhere who were as short as she was—and each had jet black hair. In that moment she realized God had known what He was doing all along. By saying no to her youthful prayer, He had answered her perfectly.

Each of us can recall times when we wanted something that God seemed unwilling to grant. Yet the passing years may have already revealed that His answer was far wiser and better than yours would have been. You didn’t need that; you needed this. And God has used your life to reveal His glory more clearly because of it.

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The Quiet Place: Daily Devotional Readings

©2012 Nancy Leigh DeMoss

Scripture taken from The CSB