This morning I find a quote by Elisabeth Elliot that I just love. She says, “God never withholds from His child that which His love and wisdom call good. God’s refusals are always merciful — ‘severe mercies’ at times but mercies all the same. God never denies us our heart’s desire except to give us something better.”
As I think about my daughters growing into young women, and the young women I visit that want so desperately to surrender fully to Jesus, I pray that we all understand God’s mercy and goodness in deeper ways. When confronted with pain, rejection, refusals, and loneliness because what we perceive as our heart’s desire has been denied us, I want to remember that God doesn’t withhold what is good from us. When He does, it’s because there’s something better.
It’s as beautiful and simple as that.
I want to believe it more and more. I choose to think of His higher love and higher wisdom that’s so far beyond my limited scope and desire. And I remember that His new mercies sometimes come disguised as refusals.