When God Says No

-



Okay so life has been pretty sweet lately. I've returned to Sydney, this time for good, and I've set myself up with a sweet little gig that only requires me to work 2 days a week, but pays me pretty much the same as when I last worked 6 days a week. Admittedly, I'm now much more qualified than I was back then, but these are still wins in life that I am celebrating.

As part of my resettlement, I was unpacking and going through boxes. I almost threw a bunch of old notebooks away, but noticed that they contained notes from 2019 which was arguably the worst year of my life. Some of the best things I have written, have come from intense wells of hurt. Anyway, I decided not to waste the pain and kept the notes. I might share them here one day. 

What I have decided to share for today are my notes on this topic - "When God Says No." I'm not sure what these notes were based on, but I can only imagine that I had listened to a sermon of some sort, presumably online. 

When God Says No

Explanations do not comfort.

Never presume to know why God does something. 

The deeper the pain in someone's life, the fewer words you use.

Show up and shut up!

1) God says NO when he has a bigger perspective. 
- God sees things you cannot see. He sees the implications of every decision. 

Hebrews 4:13
"He knows about everyone, everywhere. Everything about us is bare and wide open to the all-seeing eyes of our living God; nothing can be hidden from him..."

- We don't see the unintended consequences of what we are asking. How it will affect out children, our grandchildren, our great grand children.

- God says NO to protect you.

Proverbs 2:8
"God guards the course of the just and protects the way of His faithful ones."

2) God says NO when he has a better plan. 

Isaiah 55:8-9
"This plan of mine is not what you would work out, neither are My thoughts the same as yours! For My ways are higher than yours."

- These were commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better (Hebrews 11:39-40). 

Psalm 57:2
"I cry out to God the most high, who fulfills his purpose for me."

2 Corinthians 4:17-18
"These present troubles are quite small and wont last very long. Yet they will produce in us an immeasurably great glory that will last forever! So, we dont look at the troubles we can see right now; rather, we look forward to what we have not yet seen. For the troubles we see will soon be over, but the joys to come will last forever."

Psalm 9:10
"Those who know you Lord, will trust You! You do not abandon anyone who comes to You!"


Anyway, I hope this helps someone out there. Or perhaps, it may help me one day, should I find myself again in the pits of despair.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

This.

-
"You don't want your daughter to be like me." I said to my colleague one day. He peered over and replied "Not like you? You're a successful interventional cardiologist." I am indeed, but it has been difficult to exist in this vortex of a world. I feel as though I have climbed to the top of a mountain of skulls and bones. The road has left me weary. I have been running too long and I cannot breathe.  When I look behind me, I see broken dreams and brittle relationships. Is that a mirage? I am unable to lose the criticism, insinuations and bullying. Does anybody see this? My world is a battlefield, and I am not sure if I want to be here.  I lay in my bed, trying to find peace in the confusion of how I could be so right and yet also so wrong. In the workplace, I have to be assertive, confident, logical, and fundamentally masculine. In life, I must be warm, patient, nurturing and compassionate.  It is hard enough to embody one side or the other - but to strive t...
Read more

The real reason relationships fail

-
Image
This comes from a great video I watched recently. It is linked below and I found it very insightful.  There are Four Basic Negative Emotions in all people.  - Anger (amygdala) - Disgust (insula) --> something that will hurt you. telling you that you should avoid it. It is biologically directed towards pathogens, but politicians use this to control people. Eg Wuhan virus, or republicans vs democrats - Sadness (dorsal anterior singular cortex) --> stems from losing something or someone you love - Fear (amygdala) Negative does not mean bad. It means these are the things that signal threat to us, from the outside world. Contempt is a combination of two negative emotions - Anger and Disgust When you express contempt / disgust, it is interpreted by the brain of your partner as "you think I'm a pathogen, and I need to be cast out". Even if you dont mean it. So dont roll your eyes, dont be sarcastic. When you are feeling that coldness that comes with Contempt, that is when ...
Read more

Yet Will I Praise Him

-
Image
So Adelaide today has been a little nasty and essentially has said that I won't be entered into their allocation pool because I don't meet the 'Standard' for English requirements. I tried to reason with them and offered to sit for the test but they want it by June 29th and the next possible test date is June 30th. I asked if they would be happy for me to sit for that test and send it in, they just read me the 'Standard' again. Unyielding. I called the Medical Board of Australia and they did the same. I was a little bummed at first - I mean, not getting a job after graduating from med school is unheard of in Australia but you know, I've always said that sometimes God closes unsuitable doors. That's fine. Adelaide was a backup.. an option.. it was another door I was looking at and thinking.. maybe? I'm not saying it was necessarily a stepping stone because sometimes you go somewhere and it changes your direction. You can find your future in places...
Read more