When God Says No

The other day I went to Costco with my kids.  My kids LOVE grapes, particularly my little boy (20 months), so I get a Costco sized package of them on occasion.  On the way back from the store, I put the grapes into the front seat with me intending on giving some to the kids to munch on for the drive home.

Now since the age of about 9 or 10 months, my son has been able to say or sign please.  He has been well schooled in the appropriate use and received much reinforcement.  On this particular day, he spots the grapes in the front seat and instantly begins screaming and crying "GAPES!!!" with his little hand held out. He saw, he wanted, he instantly began throwing a fit. I look at my little boy, a little taken aback at the sudden emotional outburst, and say "You have to say please Jackson. Say please and you get some grapes."  His 3 yr old sister has already said please and is happily munching on her grapes, occasionally looking over at her brother and stating, "You have to say please Jaxie. Say please."

But no. Jackson does not want to.  Instead he screams louder and more insistently, "GAPES!!! GAAAPES!!!" So goes the 15 minute drive back to our house.  Jackson screaming for grapes, punctuated by my occasional reminder that he gets no grapes until he tells his mama please!  Finally we pull into the driveway of our house, and I hear a quiet, tearful little voice mutter, "Pease."

 Here I had purposely bought grapes because my son loves them, had intentionally placed them with me so I could give them to him as a treat, and I wanted nothing more than to give them to him!  But because of his fitful, demanding, entitled attitude I had to hold out on him.  Because I care about his little heart more than I care about giving him something he desires.  I had to help teach and reinforce the appropriate attitude before I could give my child the good thing I had already intended to give him from the start.

As I considered the irony of that, it made me think about our dealings with God... and I started to wonder if sometimes God withholds something we desire (and maybe wants to give us!) from us for that very reason.  Because He knows our heart is in the wrong place.  Because we think He owes us this good thing and we demand it from Him and question His goodness if He doesn't immediately respond as we desire.  Maybe He knows that a particular thing or job or relationship or what have you would ruin us. It's possible that there are good things that God has in His hands for us that he desires to give us, but can't because our heart is wrong and giving it would only make it worse.  Just something to think about.  Maybe the times you feel God is silent or is saying No, are times to honestly examine your heart, your motives, or your attitudes to see if they are where they should be.