BBD 09.05.16 When God says NO (New)
Posted by: theburningbushdevotional <theburningbushdevotional@...>
Since June 8th 1998, this
is the 1772nd
Burning Bush Devotional
05 September 2016
When God says NO
Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the
region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in
Asia. After they had come to Mysia, they tried to go
into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them. So passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia
stood and pleaded with him, saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go
to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to
them. – Acts 16:6-10 NKJV.
There is a TV commercial advertising a vehicle
in which parents tell their children: “You can't
take that.” One scene shows a boy walking out of a home's garage with a
sledge hammer, and the parent says, “You can't
take that.” Another scene shows a boy taking a fluorescent light bulb
out of a fixture, and the parent says “You can't
take that.” Another scene shows a little girl headed outside with hair
clippers to cut the hair of another little girl, and the parent says, “You can't take that.”
A good parent knows some things are not good
for their child to have, because some things can be harmful to the child, or
used in a harmful way. Our Heavenly Father is a good parent, and because He is
good, even though we want some things our Heavenly Father says, “You can't have that.” Our Heavenly
Father says that, because he knows those things would be harmful to us. And,
sometimes when we really want to do something our Heavenly Father says, “You can't do that.” Our Heavenly Father
says that, because He knows something else would be better for us.
In Acts 16, God says NO
to Paul twice as they were “forbidden
by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia.” Next, “they tried to
go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them.” Paul was on a
mission to reach people with the Gospel, and even though he was the apostle
Paul, God still told him NO. Why, did
God not permit Paul to preach the word in Asia or Bithynia? God had a better
plan which He then revealed to Paul: “And a vision
appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him,
saying, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’”
If the apostle Paul can be wrong about God’s will, it is
evident that we can also be wrong about God’s will. Now Paul was a determined and
persistent man of God, and we can see this when Paul beseeched God three times
to remove his “thorn in the flesh.” God told
Paul NO each time. Why? Paul says God
told him this, “And lest I should be exalted above
measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to
me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure (2
Corinthians 12:7).” Also, God said to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for
My strength is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9a).”
God may at times tell us NO. God may tell us that we can’t do that, or we can’t take that,
or we can’t have that, or we can’t go there. However, if God blocks us from
doing what we want to do, that doesn’t mean that God doesn’t love us. It may be
that God has a better plan for us, or it may be that God is just protecting us
from ourselves. Whatever it may be, as God said to the apostle Paul, He says to
us: “My grace is sufficient for you.”
Copyright © 2016. Ed Wrather. The
Burning Bush website has been online since January 31, 1998. On June 8, 1998
the email version of the Burning Bush Devotional was first sent. Ed Wrather
began writing devotionals in the early 1990s. The distribution of those first devotionals
was primarily through the Burning Bush Newsletter sent to prison facilities
throughout the United States and Canada.
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