When a “No” Turns to a “Yes,” and Much More
Augustine of Hippo’s mother, Monica, prayed for her son’s conversion to Christianity and that he would not go to Rome, which she thought was a den of iniquity. Yet, even as she prayed, Augustine boarded a ship for Rome. Her prayers were answered in a different way: While in Rome, Augustine met St. Ambrose who led him to Jesus Christ. He was converted from paganism to Christianity and immorality to immortality. Ambrose baptized Augustine in 387 A.D.1
Augustine was to be a great influence in the development of the early church. His writings brought many to Jesus Christ and his influence dominated the medieval church.
Augustine was born to African parents of Romanized Berber origins in 354 A.D. in what is now Algeria. From Ambrose he discovered that Christianity could be both eloquent and intelligent.2 His writings, such as “Confessions” about his conversion, developed his influential principle (“The City of God”) as he opposed the rationalism of some church groups (“Believe in Order to Understand”). Another widely read writing was “The Trinity,” in which he insisted that the church was a mixed field of wheat and tares. Believers and unbelievers growing together until the harvest3 at which time the decision of salvation was made by God not man.
He became a Bishop in 395 and stood at the close of the creative era of Latin Christianity. He dominated the minds of medieval and Reformation churchmen. I believe that he exceeded anything his mother could have hoped for. Augustine died in 430 A.D.at the age of 76.
In another Biblical example of a prayer for one thing turning out to be something else (Acts 16:6-10), the apostle Paul prayed to carry the Gospel to Bithynia, a region of northwestern Asia Minor. But God said, “No.”4 Paul was led instead to Troas and across the Aegean Sea to Macedonia, just above Greece. It was then that the message of Jesus entered Europe for the first time. The “no” that Paul received about Bithynia became a great “yes” through Macedonia as the Gospel jumped continents from Asia to Europe. His prayer was answered in a much better way.
Some of our prayers are not answered affirmatively because God’s plans are better than our hopes. His will is more perfect than our desires and His answers are more beneficial to us than our own. Thank God for the lives of Augustine of Hippo and the Apostle Paul and the examples they set for us and the church.
1 Dowley, Tim, ed. “Eerdman’s Handbook to the History of Christianity.” Pages 140 and 198.
2 “Eerdman’s Handbook to the History of Christianity.” Pages 140 and 198.
3 “Eerdman’s Handbook to the History of Christianity.” Pages 140 and 198.
4 Acts 16:6-10, 1 Peter 1:1, 2 Corinthians 2:12.
