The Ability to Say No

I have the joy of being a father of four children. We, as parents, get so excited at their developmental advances. Especially for us dads, the day they begin to smile and laugh at us. We love watching their first steps and seeing them explore and learn about life, but we need to be more excited about some phases. That is when they begin to say no.

I have a godson, and he has just learned that word. It is his favorite word at the moment. Anytime his mother asks him to do something, his first and only response is no. For many parents, this drives us up the wall because we want our children to do something they are likely to say for the long-term benefit. Whether it is eating their vegetables, not running around on slippery surfaces, or even coming home at the proper time. Though we know what’s good for them, we are often met with the word no.

We are the same way with God. God gives us directions and leads us somewhere, but we say no instead of going where God would have us. A famous no in the Bible is found in the book of Jonah. Jonah was a prophet of God, and he was sent to a place he didn’t like to people he didn’t like, and instead of doing what God called him to do, he said no. He found a boat going as far away from God as possible; why? Mostly because he didn’t like God’s plan.

Jonah didn’t want to see God move in the lives of his enemies as he had moved in his, so he was saying no to his actions. How often do we tell God no because we either know better than God or our words or actions are not interested in doing what God has planned? We do this because, just like my godson, we have a better way of doing it. The thing is, our plan needs more vision. We are only seeing things from our limited view. We miss out on experiencing the full glory of God because things don’t appear on the surface to be going the way we would choose, but the beauty of God is he allows us to say no.

 We serve a God that allows us to choose to say no. Much like my godson’s mother, God understands that his nos now can lead to trust later. As he makes choices that cause him hurt or harm, he learns to trust his mother and walk with her more closely. Maybe that is what God wanted for Jonah, though we aren’t told the prophet ever got it in Jonah. God allows us to say no because he wants our trustworthy yes, but that’s just a thought.