Encouragement

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When God Says “NO”
© 2008

by

Stephen A. Peterson


Kim Bruner, though 19 years old, spent a great deal of her free time helping fellow teens a few years younger than deal with their troubled situations. While in attendance at a regional seminar for volunteers, Kim informed other volunteers that many of the troubled teens she worked with had a recurrent dream. It is a dream wherein they were being chased by an adult person, but they are never caught.

“It really haunts them,” Kim said, “because they really do want to get caught when they get in trouble to stop the pain of uncertainty, a want for guidance and attention from a significant adult person. Unconsciously, these teens are looking for direction. They want an adult person to give then real attention and to tell them when they are right and when they are wrong. Their dreams, as well as their lives, are nightmares because, in their minds, no one has really ever loved them enough to teach them anything. That is, to discipline them or say “NO” to their impulsive behaviors when they are manifested.

Kim recalled her own childhood and going through her early teenage years. She wanted to begin dating boys at 12 years old like all of her friends. Kim’s mother and father, according to her, said “NO”. Though she protested and, at times, threatened to just leave against her parents’, they remained firm but fair with their rebellious daughter. No matter how hard Kim made the situation for her parents, the “NO” was sustained.

There appears to be a larger lesson in Kim’s relationship with her parents’ noes. When God denies a person’s prayers or prayer requests, it does not meant that God is not answering them or that He does not love those whom prayer goes unanswered. God’s noes are really a form of discipline that everyone needs in their life. In fact, God’s noes are just as loving as His yeses.

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