Why Does God Say No To Prayers for Good Things?

In our walk with Christ, we will all experience times that God says “no” to good things. 

When referring to good things in this article, we aren’t talking about things that seem good to us for a time but we later discover are not. We are talking about genuinely good things. 

How should we make sense of when God does this and how should we respond? 

Let’s learn from a man’s firsthand experience in Scripture. 

In Mark 5, Jesus and the disciples travel into the country of the Gerasenes, and upon arrival, Jesus is approached by a tormented man. 

When He got out of the boat, immediately a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit met Him, 3 and he had his dwelling among the tombs. And no one was able to bind him anymore, even with a chain; 4 because he had often been bound with shackles and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him and the shackles broken in pieces, and no one was strong enough to subdue him. 5 Constantly, night and day, he was screaming among the tombs and in the mountains, and gashing himself with stones. 6 Seeing Jesus from a distance, he ran up and bowed down before Him; 7 and shouting with a loud voice, he said, “What business do we have with each other, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God, do not torment me! (New American Standard Bible, 1995, Mark 5:2-7) 

Jesus delivers the man, allowing the demons to enter the nearby swine, who take a nose-dive off a cliff after they are possessed. 

In response, two things happen. 

First, the people from the country and city who come to see what had happened actually implore Jesus to leave their region (Mark 5:17)! This is one of the saddest Scriptures in all of the Bible! Can you actually imagine asking Jesus to go away? 

Second, the man who was delivered makes a request of Jesus. 

As He was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed was imploring Him that he might accompany Him. And He did not let him… (New American Standard Bible, 1995, Mark 5:18-19)

Uhhhh wait? Why on earth? What on earth? How could Jesus saying “No” to this man following him be good in any way?

Can you imagine being this man? What kind of conclusions would this man have been tempted to come to in his insecurity? “He doesn’t want to use me.” Or maybe, “I’m not good enough” or “He doesn’t like me.”

But, let’s read what happened next. 

But He said to him, “Go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you.” 20 And he went away and began to proclaim in Decapolis what great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed. (New American Standard Bible, 1995, Mark 5:19-20)

How could saying “no” to this man’s request be good? 

Well, let’s break it down. 

Jesus tells him to go back to his home and tell the testimony to them, but the man goes and does what? 

He proclaims it in the ten cities in his region -Decapolis! (New American Standard Bible, 1995, Mark 5:20) 

This makes this man become one of the first evangelists, but not only that, the first evangelist to non-Jews! 

If you’re a Gentile, the history of evangelism to “your people” goes back to the demon-possessed Gadarene!