What If God Says NO?

One year ago today, she got the call
That stopped her life
And ever since that moment,
He prayed God would heal his wife
She got weaker by the minute
In that hospital bed
And she could see that he was mad at
God, so she took his hand and said

Chorus
What if God says no
It don’t mean He loves us less
It just means He knows what’s best
What if God says no
It’s enough we have His grace
So don’t let go of your faith
What if God says no

Just south of Atlanta,
It’s been slow out on his job
But now he’s lovin on his family
And has time to talk to God
He’s prayin that a miracle
Will turn his business back around
But what if God gives him the answer
That His grace is good for now

Jesus prayed on the last night
Before He was crucified
And said, “Dad if there’s another way,
Could you let this pass me by?”
But God saw the big picture,
That it had to be done
So as much as it hurt,
He couldn’t say yes to His Son

“I just listened to the song What If God Said NO?...” said my husband. "One line of the song talks about how Jesus asks His father to take it all away, but God couldn’t … He had to say no … God saw the bigger picture and said no. I’d ever thought of it that way before. The fact that God could’ve said yes to Jesus … but it would’ve cost us all.” My husband just sat there with a look of wonder on his face. And I, like him, began wondering about the times that God said “No.” … the times that God said “No.” throughout the Bible … the times that God has said “No.” since Jesus rose again; the Crusades … the holocaust … the plagues … the times that God has said “No.” in my life …

In the week leading up to Passover, Jesus continually tells them that He’s leaving, that He’s going soon to be with the Father. And the emphasis seems to be on the reunion with His Father and on encouraging His disciples that it will be for the best. And John 17 is the culminating prayer:

“Father, the hour has come … Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent … And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began … I will remain in the world no longer … “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one … “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world …”

It got me to thinking that it’s easier to think about the end than it is to think about how you’re going to get there. Isn’t that why kids sit in the back of the car and ask “Are we there yet?” and “How much longer?” and “Why … ?” But when the time comes … it’s just hard to enjoy the ride … it’s just hard to wait until it’s over … it’s just hard.

In the garden of Gethsemane (when His life is about to get squeezed out of Him) Jesus prays “Please take this cup from Me … nevertheless, not My will but Thy will be done.” Even while He’s thinking about the up-coming pain … He decides to do what God has told Him to do.

And after it’s all over He reminds his disciples of “Why … ?”

Then He opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” Luke 24: 45-49

And what good did it do?

Do not the books of Acts through Revelation record how His message is proclaimed throughout the whole world?

What good did it do?

Is not your very life a record of His great love towards you?

What good did it do?

Do not His last recorded words in Revelation 22:20 say?

“Yes, I am coming soon!”

If God says “NO.”

we can be sure that it is because

He is going to give us a glorious “YES!”

Opening my mouth

and speaking worthless, foolish words

that were …

looking for APPROVAL

looking for ATTENTION

looking for ACCEPTANCE

… elusively finding it …

… reaching down …

… grabbing a handful of sand

only to watch …

it slip …

… through

… my

h ….

a …

n …

d ..

.

.

.

.

.

This is what the LORD ALMIGHTY says:

The people of Israel are oppressed, and the people of Judah as well.

All their captors hold them fast

Refusing to let them go.

YET … their REDEEMER is Strong;

The LORD ALMIGHTY is His name.

He will vigorously defend their cause

SO THAT … He may bring rest to their land,

But unrest to those who live in Babylon.

Jeremiah 50:33, 34

Once again I’m faced with the challenge, the dilemma …

If I can’t get freedom and walk in victory

Then what am I talking to other people for?

God, I need help and forgiveness

Feelings of inadequacy and rejection

Are giving me a sense of vertigo

Causing me to reach out and grab at & for things that aren’t there

NOT trusting the truth

NOT asking for help

NOT obeying

LOSING insight

& influence

& impact

GOD ... have mercy on me !!!

But this is what the Lord says:

Yes, captives will be taken from warriors,

& plunder retrieved from the fierce;

ì will contend with those who contend with you,

And your children ì will save.

Isaiah 49:25

Therefore instead of grasping & thrashing

i WILL cling to Your hand!

i WILL repeat Your truths!

i WILL encourage myself with Your words!

i WILL listen for Your voice!

i WILL fear You!

i WILL trust You!

i WILL trust in the name of my LORD & rely on my God!

THE HOLY ONE of Israel!

Where Are You?
by Barbara Chadwick



"Where are you?" my 93 year old mother asked.

"We just passed through Boise, Idaho going toward Utah" I replied into my cell phone."

Mother said, "I remember a Women's Missionary Retreat we went to in Boise. We had such a good time. Those years I lived and worked in the Utah Idaho Baptist Convention were such a blessing to me. I was Girls Auxiliary Director for the state convention and Director for the Concern Center in Salt Lake City." She was in her 70's then. "Ministering in God's Name is very fulfilling." We talked further about memories of those days then rang off.

After saying goodby I was reviewing my own memories and the ministry journey God had led us on.

Kenneth had finished the Interim Pastor position at Glacier Valley Baptist Church in Juneau and we were on our way back home to Colorado and waiting for our next assignment.

To know that God has used you to bring someone to Christ or help ease a burden or keep a church going fills your heart with gladness and joy.

A little later I got a call from a friend. "Where are you?" she asked

"About an hour out of Boise, Idaho. We hope to be home tomorrow. How is it going for you?" I asked.

"It's OK. My husband is serving as Interim Pastor and I can't wait 'til he's finished. I don't like it when he does that. It takes him away from home and he stays busy all the time."

After finishing the conversation with her I reflected on our journeys. She had often been unfulfilled and unhappy. While my mother had sometimes been mad or unhappy about a situation she had mostly been fulfilled during her journey and it had been the same for me.

It got me to thinking. Both women had asked, "Where are you?" and yet both had experienced widely different levels of happiness in the degree of involvement in ministry. Would it have made a difference if she had gone with and been involved with her husband? Maybe, but only if she was doing it, "as unto the Lord."

There are blessings stored up in heaven waiting to be claimed. I pray that we will be willing and obedient to do those things God puts in front of us to do, claiming the blessings that come from serving in God's Name.

Just Think of the Cross

“And she said …. Then I said … can you believe it? … I don’t know what’s wrong with her …!?!?!?!” And so my story went on an on describing in storybook detail every nuance of the offense this woman committed against me.

Then I remembered how God had helped me out during her offense and afterwards, so I added a small tag-line to my story to include what He did.

Then it occurred to me … God should be the center of this story … and I tried to make it so, but the offense was so fresh, so real, so …

How can God be the center of my story if my relationship to Him, my encounters with Him are not fresh and real and … ? Why wasn't God be the center of my story?

I just read The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom for the first time in years and realized that the last time I’d read this I a was a young girl … like maybe high school. I’d forgotten so many things and so many things struck me completely differently now that I’m a grown woman. For instance, Corrie was in her early 50’s during most of the book … I’m in my early 50’s. Corrie was a busy woman … I’m a busy woman. Corrie loved the Lord … I love the Lord. Corrie loved her family and did not want to lose them … I love my family and I don’t want to lose them. But I was so challenged by the love that God gave her and her sister Betsie for their persecutors … their captors.

At one point they are in line for a monthly Dr’s inspection. They had to strip naked and walk in single file past a line of male guards who leered and joked about their physical appearance. And suddenly the four months she spent in solitary confinement reading and re-reading the four gospels someone smuggled in to her, brings a scene back to Corrie’s mind and she leans forward and whispers to Betsie, “He was stripped naked too.” And Betsie replies, “Oh, and I never thanked Him for it!”

Long, long ago in a far away place …

Just to think of the cross moves me now

The nails in His hands … His bleeding brow ...

It should've been me!

It should've been me

Instead I am free!

I AM FREE!"

(lyrics from a song we sang when I was a teenager)

Then I was so embarrassed and humbled by my childishness over this petty minor offense that this other woman committed against me. Really?? The only thing I had to endure was to listen to a woman who had obviously been hurt or wounded deeply at one time or another, because she needed to try to humiliate me in order to elevate herself. Was this minor offense worthy of the 10 minute detailed story that I made it into in order to prove how worthy I was? And by the way … am I worthy? The Bible tells me that I’m not but that God loves me anyways and reaches down even though I’m not and embraces me and holds me and gives me what I don’t deserve.

God help me to give to others what You have given to me … help me to reach out and love people even when they don’t love me … help me to give them what they don’t deserve but what you long to give them anyways … forgiveness. God help me to remember that the days are evil and time is short and that my conversations are a tool to draw people’s minds and hearts to You. Help me to chose my words wisely … for they may be my last.

"For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

2 Corinthians 4:17