Joy when God says “No”

Have you ever found yourself praying fervently about a situation and God says “No”? How many times have you been upset that they Lord told you “No”? We’ve all done it, it’s because our human flesh wants it’s own way.
This past week I was praying for direction from God over a situation. I really wanted direction from God, I didn’t care what He chose, I just really wanted an answer. I had been reading about giving everything to the Lord; every desire, plan, thought, everything. And I did, I gave it all to the Lord. I was still praying about it but not dwelling on it.
On Monday I received an answer from the Lord. During my devotions I read about how we give everything in our life as an offering, sacrificing it to the Lord. Sometimes He takes it and never gives it back, other times He takes it like He did with Abraham and Isaac and gives it back to us. He just wants to know we are willing. Later that morning during chapel I got a direct answer from the Lord saying “No, not now”. He was impressing upon my heart, “I care about your situation, and I want to give you my best, but that best you want is not now.” It was amazing that God answered so directly and I knew that it was Him, not myself.
The best part was the peace and joy that came with hearing the answer of “No”. Most times when someone tells us “No” it upset us and we just have a hard time accepting it. But with God we have the free will to choose how we respond to His direction; we can readily accept it or rebelliously reject it. Why do we always seem to reject it? There is such a phenomenal amount of happiness that we gain when we accept His will for our own. I was just rejoicing that day, literally my heart was overflowing that my Father had answered, and He even said “No”. But I knew it was from Him and that made all the difference in the world.