For the Nos & Whys! | 1 Corinthians 13:12-13, Acts 16:6-15

Last time we thanked God for the ability to breathe. On this episode, we’re going to be thanking God for the times He has said no to us. We’re going to be thanking God for the times that we’ve looked up and said, why? Because there’s nothing that happens to us that doesn’t pass through the nail scarred hands of Jesus first. He’s putting everything together like a giant jigsaw puzzle in our lives. You and I get to see it happen piece by piece. We don’t get to see the puzzle cover, I don’t believe until we’re up in glory with him and it all makes sense. And that’s where I want to begin today.

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Transcription:

There’s a beautiful Little Stone church in a town called Blowing Rock, North Carolina. If you’ve ever read the Mitford Series by Jan Karen, one of my favorite fictional series of all time, this is the town that it was inspired by. But there’s a little church there that stands today as a symbol of God’s faithfulness. A man named W.W. Stringfellow gave a ton of money to see that church built, stone upon stone, because he was so grateful, so humbled by the fact that he had canceled his booking on the Titanic, the most doomed voyage of all time. So, that church was built as a way of him saying, thank you Lord for sparing my life. Welcome to the Bible for Busy People. I’m Erica, your host, and this week you and I are getting ready for the Thanksgiving season by pausing to thank God for some things that we don’t normally think about.

Last time we thanked God for the ability to breathe. I mean our hearts are beating right now. On this episode, we’re going to be thanking God for the times He has said no to us. We’re going to be thanking God for the times that we’ve looked up and said, why? Because there’s nothing that happens to us that doesn’t pass through the nail scarred hands of Jesus first. He’s putting everything together like a giant jigsaw puzzle in our lives. You and I get to see it happen piece by piece. We don’t get to see the puzzle cover, I don’t believe until we’re up in glory with him and it all makes sense. And that’s where I want to begin today. In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, first Corinthians chapter 13, beginning in verse 12.

Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then…

Talking about someday up there with the Lord and glory.

…then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

Now, before I move to verse 13, I want to share a theory with you. And first I want to say I’m no theologian. I’m just a girl who loves Jesus, loves the Bible, but I submit to you that the next verse is there very purposely. I bet it’s a verse that you’ve heard before, maybe at your own wedding or somebody else’s wedding.

Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

Now, is it possible again, non theologian here, that God wants to remind you and I through the apostle Paul, that sometimes when we don’t get it, when we don’t have the whole picture and we don’t understand, and we’re going, why did you say no? I don’t know. When we’re saying these things that God is saying, it’s because I love you. He’s saying, these are the things that last forever, faith, hope and love. These questions that you and I have right now, they’re going to go away someday. They’re going to disappear into the answer in the face of the one we long to see. Those questions will just be extinguished by the light of his beautiful face. Aren’t you looking forward to that day? Alright, I want to go and study a little further with you on this subject because I know it’s hard. I have heard God say no to me, very gently, almost in a whisper like voice. I’ve heard God say, not now. Again, nothing audible, but in my spirit, maybe you’ve received a downloaded message like that from God as well. It’s not easy, but you and I are reminding ourselves today that we can be grateful for the nos in life. When God says, no, you and I can trust that because he’s got the puzzle box. He sees the full picture and he knows what is going to be absolutely best for us. We can trust him with those, “I don’t knows” and “I don’t get its,” I’ve got ’em too. Because in the end, we’re going to understand everything. We’re going to know everything completely, the apostle Paul just told us. Okay, speaking of our friend Paul, join me now in Acts chapter 16, we’re going to hang out with Paul and his buddy Silas, his ministry partner. In this section of scripture, we learned that they’re going from town to town strengthening the churches, and the churches are growing. So join me now in verse six of Acts chapter 16.

Next Paul and Silas traveled through the area of Phrygia and Galatia, because the Holy Spirit had prevented them from preaching the word in the province of Asia at that time.

See, not now.

7 Then coming to the borders of Mysia, they headed north for the province of Bithynia, but again the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them to go there. 8 So instead, they went on through Mysia to the seaport of Troas. 9 That night Paul had a vision: A man from Macedonia in northern Greece was standing there, pleading with him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!” 10 So we decided to leave for Macedonia at once, having concluded that God was calling us to preach the Good News there. 11 We boarded a boat at Troas and sailed straight across to the island of Samothrace, and the next day we landed at Neapolis. 12 From there we reached Philippi, a major city of that district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. And we stayed there several days.13 On the Sabbath we went a little way outside the city to a riverbank, where we thought people would be meeting for prayer, and we sat down to speak with some women who had gathered there. 14 One of them was Lydia from Thyatira, a merchant of expensive purple cloth, who worshiped God. As she listened to us, the Lord opened her heart, and she accepted what Paul was saying. 15 She and her household were baptized, and she asked us to be her guests. “If you agree that I am a true believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my home.” And she urged us until we agreed.

Is it possible that the Lord wanted Lydia to encounter Paul and Silas at a specific time and point in her life? Lydia would go on to support the ministry of Paul. Who knows, life is mysterious. But today I just want to encourage you, and encourage me, in the process to give thanks for the mysteries. For the no’s and the I don’t knows. Because in the end, when our plans blow up, when they get interrupted, there is still a plan that you and I get to be a part of, and we can trust the One who’s drawing that plan up. His name is Jesus. Alright, until next time, you are loved.

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