When No Is The Best Answer To Our Prayers

By Joseph Akinrinola

What is the beauty of prayers if not a resounding yes? As expected, you are not likely to go through the exercise of prayers if you think your prayers will be thrown back to you.

I am aware of the scriptures that say hope deferred makes the heart weary. Nevertheless, would you rather prefer God not answering you at all to giving you his permissive will that makes your life bitter? It is not out of place to be dissatisfied when God rejects our prayer for whatever reason. To be sincere, I don’t like hearing that, but in my little walk with God, I have come to realize my feeling never changes God or his decision. However, if I insisted on having my way, he would not object to that. More often than not, I have found out God is right after all for delaying or not answering some prayers.

A few years ago, during the Sunday school class, a student defined prayer as presenting a request to God and receiving an answer. Immediately another person objected to that, saying God sometimes says no to the request. I responded that “no” is also an answer. Although we do not like to hear that answer, yet God sometimes will say no.

My view in this article may not be a popular one, yet reading through can be the difference between your selfish prayers and faith in God to give an answer that best suits you. First, you must understand it is God’s prerogative to answer some prayers, but decline others. Second, answers to prayers are not about your convenience or blessing, but about God’s glory. Third, we are clueless about the details of what we are praying about. That we are naïve about the future is the reason we fret when we do not get God’s nod to our prayers. Whenever God gives a no to our prayers, then it must be the best for the future and now.

Why is no a better answer to our prayers? It is because he knows when our request will be our undoing. Granting us our desire, which is at variance with his words or purpose, will be his permissive will. In addition, when that happens, you can be sure the danger is in the offing.

I will cite two examples to drive home my points that no could be the best answer to our prayers.

God sent the prophet Isaiah to King Hezekiah with the message that he would die. As you know, this a direct and personal message to him by a renowned prophet. However, Hezekiah thought God could not be right with his judgment. The king reasoned he had done great things for God and his people, not to be compensated with death. In addition, he had a great plan for his nation, and dying now will be counterproductive. It appears Hezekiah knows the future more than God.

Well, he prayed, and God reversed his no to yes. Eventually, he gave Hezekiah an additional fifteen years to fulfill his desire for his nation.

Now, let us see why God’s no to our prayers is sometimes better than his yes that is not his will.

According to some commentaries (Ellicott’s, Benson, Jamieson, Gill’s, and Pulpit) Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah was born within the fifteen years God added to his life in answer to his prayer. This son eventually became a terrible King in Judah. He ended up destroying the good work his father, Hezekiah, was requesting more years from God to execute.

In 2 Kings 20:12-19, King Hezekiah showed the goods of his house and the temple to an enemy. God, through prophet Isaiah, said all the treasures would be taken to Babylon, later including his children. These are treasures he and his father had labored to acquire. Do you think the additional years that he got made any sense? There is a saying in my culture that it is better to die young and be celebrated than to die at an old age without a befitting burial.

If you have a choice like Hezekiah, will you still prefer God’s yes to his no that is not his will for you? Perhaps it will suffice to share my experience to show how God’s no makes sense sometimes.

Some years back, I sought to rent a shop with prayer and fasting. My praying group even joined me in prayers. However, I lost it to a friend who lived far away from that location. After about two months, my friend decided to share the shop with another person. But he was not willing to consider me because I did not have enough money to cover the bill at that time. Logically, I was supposed to tell him to use the money he owed me to cover the bill, but I chose not to follow that path. As a result, I lost the opportunity for the second time. A few months later, my friend complained about no sales in that shop. On investigation, someone told us there is a diabolical power planted by the owner of the shop. Each tenant that came in would use it for a few months and then pack out because of a lack of sales. The owner would then rent out the shop to a new tenant.

Now you can see why God did not allow me to get the shop in the first instance. Therefore, next time you receive a no from God to your prayers, pause to listen with your inner mind to know if he has a better plan. If you can raise your level of faith, you will acknowledge He has your best at heart.

I am Joseph, an author, blogger, and content writer from Nigeria. In the field of writing, I deliver unique, grammatically correct, and plagiarism-free content. Currently, I work with three online firms specializing in motivation, human capacity development, lifestyle, relationship, and spiritual writings.

Joseph Akinrinola