What if God really gave you what you asked for? Part 2

Here is a scary thought: "What if God really gave you what you asked for?"

If God always gave what we asked for, we could be in big trouble! Think about it, do you always know what is absolutely the best for you? Of course you don't, I don't either. So sometimes we ask God for things that seem really good to us but only because we do not know better.

It is like an incident that happened when I was in Elementary school. We lived on Crescent Avenue right at the curve, and one night there was a terrible accident there. A teenager tried to make the curve going 100 miles an hour when it was rated for 25 or 30 mph. Needless to say, he did not make it. He bounced off some granite boulders and big maple trees in our front yard and then went about 50 yards into a field. He died and the other teenager in the car was paralyzed. The driver had been begging his Dad for that particular GTO model. The father finally relented when the son threatened suicide over it. The accident killed him a day or two after his birthday.

He asked for a present that was definitely not in his best interest. If he really did need a car, he did not need to get a "hot" muscle car like the one he wanted. But he got what he asked for (which was not in his best interest) and killed himself and paralyzed a friend.

How does God respond when we make these kinds of requests? I think He handles them two different ways.

One way is to grant it and teach us a lesson. An Elder I respect had a vivid lesson like this in his life. The former pastor of his church was elderly and was dying. They were praying that he would not die because they wanted him to live - a very natural prayer and one they prayed fervently. The man survived, but the next couple of years he lived in a state of dementia and physical problems. My friend told me he did not pray for discernment as to God's will in the matter, or what was best. Later he realized that it would have been better for the man to go and be with his Lord. He went on to tell me to practice what he learned from that: always pray for discernment and admit God might just have something else in mind.

The other way God may handle the request is to not grant it so that something different and likely better can happen. One of the most familiar examples of this in the Bible is the one involving Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10. "Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me-to keep me from exalting myself! Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. And He has said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.' Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong."

Paul prayed a natural prayer too; he wanted healing. Now if anyone could pray with faith, proper motives, and the like, I think Paul could. Yet the healing did not come! It did not come because God had something that in the long run was better for Paul. Paul had a spiritual lesson to learn and a special provision from God that he had to tap into. Paul could have become proud because of his spiritual development and he could easily have gone on and done the ministry in his own strength. If that had happened Paul probably would have still done good things for God. However, God wanted to do great things through Paul. So God left Paul a bit weak so he would go to God for grace, strength and provision. Now Paul was set to see God do great and incredible things. Now Paul would not just endure but live victoriously demonstrating the power of Christ!

So God does not always give us what we want; sometimes His "no" simply means He has something better on the way. I am so glad that I can pray and, with total confidence, leave things in His wise, capable, and loving hands.

Written by Rev. Daniel B. Baker May 2007



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