God does not always answer our prayers affirmatively.  Sometimes he says, “No!” When he does, he has our best interests at heart. Even God’s negative is positive for us.

Paul’s life provides an example of this. We are accustomed to thinking of Paul as Christ’s ambassador par excellence, so we forget how controversial he was in his own day. A vocal minority of early church members doubted his message, distrusted the messenger, or both.

In Galatians, Paul defended his message. “I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up. I did not receive from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ” (Gal. 1:11–12, cf. Acts 9:1–19).

In 2 Corinthians 10–12, Paul defended his status as God’s messenger. The Corinthian church, which Paul had founded (Acts 18:1–17), had become enamored of certain self-promoting “super-apostles.” They looked good, spoke well, and lived high, unlike Paul, whom church traditions tells us was short, bald, and bandy-legged. By his own admission, Paul was a poor speaker (1 Cor. 2:1). And unlike the so-called “super-apostles,” Paul suffered a lot. The list of dangers he survived is impressive: beating, imprisonment, stoning, shipwreck, persecution, and dangers on the road, to name just a few (2 Cor. 11:23–29). Paul’s life was not easy.

But it was lived for God. In 2 Corinthians 12:1–10, Paul reluctantly offered a glimpse into his devotional life to rebut accusations that he was less spiritual than the “super-apostles.” Referring to himself in the third person, he wrote, “I know a man in Christ who…was caught up to paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell.” Then, switching to first person, Paul wrote, “To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me.” Quite possibly, this was some sort of chronic, debilitating illness.

And with this “thorn in the flesh,” we return to the topic of God answering our prayers negatively. Paul prayed to God for relief: “Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.” But God said, “No!” each time, providing only this explanation: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” God’s negative turned out to be positive for Paul because God wanted to give Paul what he needed even more than physical relief—grace and power.

When God denies our requests, he is not being cruel. There is no deficiency of love on the supply side of prayer. But there is a hierarchy of values. The wellbeing of our bodies—which God made and is saving—is important, but not all-important. God is more interested in our character than our comfort. When God says, “No!” he has our best interests at heart. Let’s keep that in mind as we prayer.