Augustine in his autobiographical work Confessions tells the story of his mother Monica’s constant prayers for him. She wished that one day her vagabond son would become a committed Christian. When Augustine decided to leave North Africa and sail for Rome she was horrified. She believed that in Rome’s cosmopolitan environment he would go further astray. She pleaded with him not to sail and prayed with tears that God would intervene, but to no avail.

Later, Augustine inscribed these words in the Confessions as part of his recollection of the incident: “But thou, taking thy own secret counsel and noting the real point to her desire, did not grant what she was then asking in order to grant to her the thing that she had always been asking.”1

Sometimes God’s “No” means “Yes.”

God said, “No” to Mon…