God forbid!

 

In his book, Unspoken Sermons, George MacDonald wrote a sermon entitled, "The Word of Jesus on Prayer" where he discusses the purpose of prayer and God's response to our requests:

To hear is not necessarily to grant -- God forbid!  but to hear is necessarily to attend to -- sometimes as necessarily as to refuse.

'Concerning this thing,' says Paul, 'I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.  And he hath said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee; power is made perfect in weakness.'  God had a better thing for Paul than granting his prayer and removing his complaint: he would make him strong; the power of Christ should descend and remain upon him; he would make him stronger than his suffering, make him a sharer in the energy of God.

If God granted our every request, He would be no god at all, but a puppet or magic genie existing only to do our bidding.  If God ignored our every request, He would be no god at all, but an impersonal life-force that cares nothing for the creatures that derive life from it, or worse, a creator caring nothing for his creation.

On the other hand, if God loves us like a good father should love his children, He will grant those requests that are best for us and refuse those requests that will bring us harm.  A good parent knows better than a child what is best for him or her.  Good parents don't give their children candy every morning just because they want it instead of their breakfast.  Good parents force their children to swallow their medicine when sick, even if it tastes terrible.  Good parents know when to say 'yes', when to say 'no', when to say 'later when you've grown up a bit', and when to give their children something entirely different than the thing they're asking for.

To refuse or postpone a request doesn't mean that we cease to love our children; on the contrary, it may be the greatest demonstration of our love, especially when it is difficult to say 'no'.  It doesn't mean that we're ignoring them either; an appropriate refusal means we are paying attention to our children's needs rather than their wants.  It's the same with God.  He listens to our supplications and gives us what we most need, not what we most want.  That's why we pray with Christ, 'Thy will be done' and not 'My will be done.'

We've got to trust that our 'Father knows best' because He loves us and because He is good.