When God Says "No"

Revised Common Lectionary (7-18-2021: Proper 11)

2 Samuel 7:1–14a, Psalm 89:20–37, Ephesians 2:11–22, Mark 6:30–34, 53–56

One of my favorite aspects of being a school bus, besides serving our kids, is the wide variety of folks I get to meet. We have a very diverse district, with many nationalities, ethnicities, and languages represented among our students, staff, and parents.

I am currently transporting one of the cutest little boys ever, a first-grader who still has that squeaky little kid voice I have always been a total pushover for. He is totally into dinosaurs. Everything he has, shirts, shorts, shoes, backpack, is dinosaur themed. One day he brought a T-Rex figuring, but he usually has flat, paper dinosaurs, drawn with crayons (probably by his Mom) and cut out, so it wasn’t obvious at first what they are. I thought they had been done at school, but he brings them from home, too. One day I found a human cutout he had dropped, it being smaller. I assume even paper dinosaurs need something to eat!

Usually he refers to his parents as “mommy” or “daddy”, but the one day they were both there to see him off, he waved with his hand in a T-Rex claw and made a screeching dinosaur “good-bye”. I often hear dinosaur sounds on the way to school, up to the point where he falls asleep, especially on the ride home. He probably will outgrow this phase, maybe not. But even from the youngest of age, we have dreams.

Although I still vaguely remember drawing dinosaurs, I don’t remember ever being into them that much, or anything that much. But we all wish to be something, even when we are all “grown up”. Even when we have a good job, a great family, etc., we always we want more. Perhaps we keep dreaming of who we will be, even when we have “made it”. We dream of other things, once a dream has been fulfilled, or keep dreaming of the things that will never happen, like being a dinosaur, or winning the lottery. Often, we forget our dreams, or get too busy to dream. Sometimes being who we are meant to be will mean receiving a “no” to what we have been dreaming of.

In our reading from 1st Samuel 7, King David is at the apex of success. He has defeated his enemies, taken Jerusalem, built a palace for himself, and finally has found rest on all sides. But the Ark of the Covenant still abides in a tent, not a permanent home. After being so blessed by God over the years, God says “no” to David. God has been with David throughout the difficult years of persecution from Saul. He has vanquished all of David’s enemies.

In the movies, when you say “no” to a king, he usually removes your head. Being a king means you get to do what you want. But David doesn’t seem upset here. As we will read later, he begins to gather the materials necessary for the Temple, but it will be Solomon who carries out the construction, and he didn’t even seek the job, as David did.

Have you ever set your heart on something, but God had something else in mind? Some say “when God closes a door, He opens a window”; but that isn’t really what is happening here. God is giving this job to someone else. Instead, God promises David that:

New American Standard Bible Chapter 7

16 Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever.

What do you think of that? Would you be honored, or disappointed? Certainly, we would all like to leave a legacy, be we also want to do something great for God, something that will show our devotion to Him. How would you react if God said “no” to you? Has He in the past, and what happened after?

David responds in humility and with praise. Perhaps we today have different ideas of what a legacy is, or we want everything now, not after we are gone. But David makes an insightful statement:

New American Standard Bible (Chapter 7)

For You know Your servant, Lord GOD! 21 For the sake of Your word, and according to Your heart, You have done all this greatness, to let Your servant know. 22 For this reason You are great, Lord GOD; for there is no one like You, and there is no God except You, according to all that we have heard with our ears. 23 And what one nation on the earth is like Your people Israel, whom God went to redeem for Himself as a people, and to make a name for Himself, and to do a great thing for You and awesome things for Your land.

God knows His servant, and knows he is not the one for the job. But more importantly, He knows His people, and will do what is best for them. When we hear “no”, we usually just think about ourselves, what we want to do, and don’t consider what is best for God’s plan for His people. David didn’t know then, but one of his descendants would be Jesus, our Lord, the Savior of all Creation. That is definitely a greater legacy!

But we often believe that because we have been faithful, in our opinion, God somehow owes us. We have served Him, so we now think it is time for Him to provide something that shows how special we are compared to others. When we see the need for something to be done, we choose ourselves to do it, ignoring the fact that God may already have someone else in mind.

When God seems to say “no”, especially to something He previously said “yes” to, or to what we have set our hearts on, we must remember that it is not “all about me” but about the One to whom we belong. We are to play our part, and that may change over time. Even when disappointed, we must continue to have faith that God will use us according to His plan, realizing that we most likely don’t see what that is. Paul writes:

New American Standard Bible (Chapter 2)

remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the people of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who previously were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, 15 by abolishing in His flesh the hostility, which is the Law composed of commandments expressed in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two one new person, in this way establishing peace; 16 and that He might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the hostility. 17 AND HE CAME AND PREACHED PEACE TO YOU WHO WERE FAR AWAY, AND PEACE TO THOSE WHO WERE NEAR; 18 for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.

When we see only loss and dead-ends, remember that we can’t see everything God has in store for us, even here on earth. What awaits us after this life is far better than anything we will do in this one, even if we claim we are doing it for God. Our task is to have faith, not prove that we have that faith, or expect some special reward just for us because of our faith. The result of our faith is eternal life in Christ and a purpose now, guided and empowered by the Spirit. That should be enough, but we always want something more, something to distinguish ourselves, or to be something other than what we are, such as a dinosaur. But when we pretend to be something we are not, God sees us for who we really are anyway. He will work to get our hearts where they need to be, even if it is painful for us. Even if we need discipline, in the negative sense.

It is painful when God says “no”, especially when it means “yes” for someone else, someone you may not think is as worthy of you. But this often means that we have confused what we do with who we are, yet again. I was a pastor, but now i’m not. But I still have a pastor’s heart, I still want to serve God and His people. I still do such things, for I am more than just a job title, I am a beloved child of God, and you are too. What we do is not as important as what Jesus did for us. We are to be faithful, and do things for Christ, but we also belong to Him, and are part of His beloved community. It is not all about “me”.

That little boy dreams of being a dinosaur, but we say he is just playing. We also dream of being something when we are grown up, and even after we are “grown up”; some come true, some don’t. That’s OK. We keep dreaming, often are told “no” but keep dreaming. Perhaps its play, sometimes not. But we keep moving forward, getting up when we are knocked down, continuing to follow our dreams, praying that they are in accord with God’s will. I’ve always dreamed of being a cowboy, and in some ways, I am. I love the outdoors, animals, and like to think I have the free spirit of a cowboy, and a love for the West, even if that is just part of the dream, learned from movies, minus the hard facts. I’ll keep dreaming of doing great things, of helping others, and of following Jesus wherever He leads. I’ll keep trying to grow forward even after yet another “no”.