What if the answer is no? What if that question you have been asking, the thing you have been begging God to do, the deepest longing that you have from God is answered with…no?

At a recent high school graduation I attended, it was said during the valedictorian address:

“Pain is temporary. It may last for a moment, a day, a week, month, or even a year, but eventually it goes away and is replaced by something else.”

Now to be fair, from an eternal perspective, for the believer this is absolutely true. And yes I know that “God causes all things to work together for the good of those who are called according to His purpose.

This however, that was not the context of the comment. It was well-meaning, and inspiring for sure. As a graduating senior, most can only imagine the pain and difficulty life may bring. It is difficult for any of us to fathom the depths of pain that can come our way.

You may have been there before. You may be in the midst of pain, difficulty, or uncertainty now. You may have found yourself for sometime now praying, hoping, begging God. What if the answer is no? What if the pain doesn’t go away. What if the struggle continues?

Maybe the better question is this:

If the answer is no, will you still trust Him? Will you look deep within the unmatched beauty of a gracious, loving, merciful Savior and find Him alone as enough?

Photo credit: ilkerender / Foter / Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)