Congratulations on reading this blog post. I have found that alot of folks do not like talking about God's negative responses to our prayers or pleas. Yet here you are. So let's talk about what that's like when we send a prayer to God and the answer returned is, "Nope. Not gonna' do that." Boy does that sound like rejection, doesn't it?
Today's Mass readings all tell stories of God saying no. First Reading: Isaiah says in the beginning, "I am doomed!" God says, "No, you're not." As a matter of fact, Isaiah, you are ordained to go and prophesy. In the Second Reading, Paul narrates his conversion, remembering that his relationship with Jesus began with his persecution of the church of God, until God said, "No, you've got it wrong. You are to be my apostle." And in the Gospel of Luke, Peter says to Jesus, "Leave me, Lord, for I am a sinful man," and Jesus responds with a commission to lead. All three readings have an iteration of God saying, "No, nope, not gonna' happen that way." Yet none of these negations is rejection, none is dismissal, none is punitive. God's response of "no" is leading each of these three individuals to something much greater, something much harder, something much more costly.
Pause. When has God said no to you? Have you been able to see it opening up something greater--even if it was harder or more costly? If so, I imagine gratitude and humility might rise with the memory. If not, I imagine a pang of hurt or fear (or one of their emotional cousins) rises with the memory. I can't imagine Isaiah or Paul or Peter were granted the fullness of the vision for how things would turn out for them. Maybe their response to God's "no" wasn't as beautiful as Scripture and history have painted. Maybe it was more akin to a hesitant--yet faith-filled--"Okaaaaay....." Maybe today, if that's the best we can do, we're in good company.