The Divine No

This was presented to me with the title "A Women's Prayer", but I think it applies to everyone.

Lord, day after day I thank You for saying, “Yes.”
But I genuinely thank you for saying, “No.”
Yet I shudder to think of the possible snares, the accumulative blots on my life, had You not been sufficiently wise to say an unalterable, “No.”
So thank You for saying no.

When my want list for things far exceeded my longing for You,
When I asked for a stone, foolishly certain I asked for bread,
Thank You for saying, “No.”
To my pleadings, “Just this time, Lord,”
Thank You for saying, “No,” to senseless excuses, selfish motives, dangerous deviations.
Thank You for saying, “No,” when temptations that entice me would have bound me beyond escape,
Thank You for saying “No,” when I asked You to leave me alone.
Above all thank You for saying, “No” when in anguish I asked,
“If I give you all else, may I keep this?”
Lord, my awe increases when I see the wisdom in Your divine, “No.”

On a personal note to this poem, I can vividly remember asking God to stop "hounding" me when I was in high school and college. I have journal entries that say something akin to "Other people can go to church and then go to parties and be fine with it. Why won't You let me just be?"

I remember being so frustrated as I watched friends live this double life that didn't seem double to them. They just did what they wanted and then participated in church and seemed to be fine with it. I never could. It wasn't okay. Maybe they hadn't come through the things I had already come and the Lord would grab a hold of them later. But, for me, I remember asking "can't I just do this one thing?" God would say no.

Looking back, I am so incredibly grateful for His no. I'm so grateful He wouldn't just leave me alone. Left to myself, I am ruined. What a wise and gracious Lord I love!