by Barbara Dobbelaire

Created on: February 15, 2009

Thanks for the Nots!

I recently was privileged to hear a sermon in which the speaker testified to times in his life that God had said, "Not; not to My child. Satan, you cannot do that to this child of Mine.

So many times in life the devil tries to tie a knot in our tail and God steps in and says, "There will be a "not" in this tale"! My husband has had some health problems lately and a lot of tests have been run. The tests keep coming back as nots. He does not have heart trouble, he does not have colon cancer, he does not have COPD! I love the nots.

I was thinking of Biblical examples of when God said "not". One of the first ones that came to my mind was King David. He could have gone down in history as another king gone bad. A king who committed adultery and then tried to cover it up by a murder. What a sad tale that would have been, but instead through the grace that God extended to King David we remember him as a true worshipper, one who God called," a man after His own heart." What a tale of victory Satan would have claimed if David had not been turned around by the Lord. God said "not".

Then I thought of Moses. He was a man that wanted to bring justice by his own hand and he also turned to murder. God did not plan for his purpose for Moses to end with that act. God had greater plans for Moses. God took him into the wilderness until Moses could be used in the way that God had planned for him. Moses had an encounter with a Burning Bush and he was never quite the same. God put a "not" in his tale also.

Job could have been just another discouraged man who gave up on God, but his story was also turned around. What a turnaround that was! He ended up with twice as much as he lost by trusting in and being obedient to God. When the Devil wanted to destroy Job, God said "not".

I thought to a time that I had been driving late at night on a little two lane road to a place I had no business going and my radiator hose broke. I was stuck on the side of the road with no way to get in touch with my husband as this incident took place before cell phones. I was hoping someone would come by and pick me up and yet dreading who might stop at that time of night. I was so relieved when a women on her way home from work stopped to pick me up and take me to my husband. The Holy Spirit revealed to me that the devil had indeed had other plans for me that would have ruined the rest of my life, but God had stepped in and said "not"!

When we get to heaven and God shows us all the nots in our lives I am sure we will be overwhelmed. The Bible tells us that we will never be tested beyond what we can endure. There are many battles that we find ourselves in and Jesus steps up and says that He has already fought this battle and emerged victorious.
Father God, I praise You for the times that you have put a not in my tale! Thank you for your goodness and mercy to me. Thank you that you look at the whole picture and not just the mess that I am in at any given time in my life. Thank you for your continued patience with me and that you never give up on me. Hold me tight, Lord.

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