What Happens When We Don't Say "No"

The other day I wrote about “Crazy Schedules or Learning to Say “No.” I wrote that we need to pray and ask God what He wants us to do and allow Him to control our schedules. And, we must learn to say “No.” Because there will be things that we will want to do, or feel we need to do, and God will say “no.” And we will still want to or feel we need to do whatever it is. What happens when God says “No” but we say “Yes?”

First and most obvious, we rebel against what God says and when we rebel, we sin.

“And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.

For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.

And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD, and thy words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.” I Samuel:22-24.

Once we sin, our relationship to God suffers. Perhaps we don’t feel as close to Him as we did before. There used to be a saying “If God doesn’t seem close, guess who moved?” – or something to that effect. What it means is that if God doesn’t seem close, it’s not because He moved or He did something to separate Himself from us, but rather we did something to separate ourselves from Him.

In that separation, we leave ourselves open to what I call “sneaky snake attacks.” These are attacks that, had we not been in a broken relationship with God, we would have recognized them and been able to stand against them. OR maybe the enemy wouldn’t have tried because our relationship with God was so tight, he would have known there was no attack he could bring against us that would penetrate that relationship.

What’s the solution? It is very obvious: Repent of our sin and ask God to forgive us. The beautiful thing is that God stands ready and waiting to extend forgiveness to us as soon as we ask. When we receive God’s forgiveness, our relationship is restored.

Does that mean that we are “off the hook?” Not necessarily. Paul tells us in Galatians 6:7 “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Simply put, if you “sow” sin, you will “reap” the consequences.

But here’s the thing: if your relationship with God is restored, He will be with you as you walk through those consequences. I don’t know about you, but I would much rather walk through those consequences with God, than without Him.