No Is Not Nothing

Yesterday, we saw how God delivered Peter from prison.  However, in the same chapter of Acts, we read where James had been imprisoned as well, and we can assume the church prayed just as fervently for him.  However, rather than being miraculously released, we read that King Herod "had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword" (12:2).

Despite the fact that James was an apostle like Peter and, also like Peter, one of the inner circle of Jesus' friends (Peter, James and John), the Lord chose not to spare him from the sword (or chose to spare him from the growing persecution).  The text doesn't explain the why, it only clearly highlights the no.

When we don't get what we ask for, we tend to ask why God didn't answer our prayer.  In one of Garth Brooks' ballads, Unanswered Prayer, he thanks God for not answering him when he asked for a particular girl because it would have meant he would never have met his wife.  That song typlifies how we regard a prayer that doesn't lead to getting what we want.

But why must we assume that God didn't answer in those cases?  Does not the Bible promise that "the eyes of the Lord are always on the righteous and his ears attentive to their prayers" (1 Pet 3:12)?  And would not a loving Father sometimes say no?  Is no nothing, a non-answer?  Not!  No is not nothing.  No is an answer.  And, when God says no, it is the answer that we need albeit not always what we want.  Do you love your children?  Have your anwsers always been yes?  Haven't you lovingly said no at times?

Perhaps, instead of wondering why God hasn't answered our prayer or continuing to try to get him to conform to our wishes, we ought to begin asking why the answer is no when it becomes clear we are not getting the result we desired.  Maybe we should be asking God to help us understand, accept and conform to His will.  Jus' Sayn.