“Mommy, can I have a cookie?” Timmy asked.
“No,” I said, “we’re going to eat dinner soon.”
“But I want a cookie!”
“Sorry. It’s almost time for dinner.”
“But I LIKE cookies.”
“After dinner.”
By this point, Timmy was getting distressed. “But how can I eat a cookie if you won’t LET me?” he begged.
The answer, of course, was that he couldn’t. No cookies unless Mommy lets you have one.
I can understand his frustration. After all, I don’t like it when I don’t get what I want, either. Especially if it’s sitting right there in front of my face, looking for all the world like it should be mine.
Just as we sometimes say no to our children, so God sometimes says no to us. When He does, what we wanted—what we thought should be ours—suddenly becomes forbidden fruit.
Spiritual discernment is required to discern what God’s will is. But if I just keep trying to force the issue without ever considering that maybe I’m striving to obtain something God doesn’t want me to have, I won’t know what His will is.
At least Timmy asked me for my answer. Too often, I don’t ask God for His. I just pursue what I want and expect Him to bless it. Oh, God, forgive me!
You see, Timmy understood what you and I don’t always think about: If a parent says no, then it’s no.
But what if it’s something we really want? What then?
Here’s where it comes down to faith. We say in our heads that we believe God knows what’s best for us to have. But do we really believe it?
Apparently not, if we keep begging for “yes” when He’s already said “no,” or if we complain about “no.”
I wonder what difference it would make in your life and in mine if, instead of “fighting [God] for something we don’t really want” we would “take what [God gives] that [we] need.”
If we would accept God’s gracious provision as just that—gracious—and be content.
Philippians 4:12—I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. (NIV)