8. Praying for Our Desires
"You have granted him his heart's desire and have not withheld the request of his lips" (Psalm 21:2).
In the last chapter we saw that God takes our needs seriously. God is also willing to take seriously our desires for things we dearly would like, but do not necessarily "need."
We should always remember that "godliness with contentment is great gain" (1 Timothy 6:6); as long as we have everything we need, we should strive to be content whenever possible. But that does not mean that our human desires for good things are wrong in God's eyes. The same God who created the human mind and its longings inspired the truth that "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life" (Proverbs 13:12).
For example, God placed within the human mind the desire to find a mate, and the Book of Proverbs tells us that "He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the LORD" (Proverbs 18:22). Abraham's servant prayed for a wife for his master's son (Genesis 24:12, 15), and we are told that God answered that particular prayer immediately!
We can add many other things to this single example of something we may rightly desire or long for. The story of Isaac praying for a child for his wife Rebekah (Genesis 25:21) comes to mind, as does the story of Hannah longing and praying for a child (1 Samuel 1-2). The Bible shows a number of other desires that are good and right in God's eyes, but we do not need to find some scriptural justification for something we would dearly like in this life. David wrote in the Psalms: "The Lord God is a sun and shield, the Lord will give grace and glory, no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly" (Psalm 84:11). Notice that David does not say God will give us anything we ask for, but he does say that God will not withhold something that is good from those who please him if the time and circumstances are right.
Should We Pray for Prosperity? Saying that we can pray for anything that is good and right for us is not the same as saying we can pray for anything we would like. A case in point is material possessions or wealth beyond what we actually need. Today, the "prosperity gospel" (sometimes called "health and wealth gospel" or "success gospel") is a belief held by some Christians who think that financial prosperity and physical well-being can be gained from God through faith (and sometimes by donations to the denominations that teach this belief!).
Ironically, this so-called "gospel' closely resembles some of the wrongful approaches that infiltrated the early Church and which are condemned in the Bible as being unscriptural and based on a way of greed. Rather than urging us to seek wealth, the Bible cautions against pursuing it. Jesus himself warned, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions" (Luke 12:15). The apostle Paul specifically condemned religious seeking after prosperity when he wrote about:
… people of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain … But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs (1 Timothy 6:5-11).
Dozens of scriptures reinforce this truth throughout the Bible and show that physical prosperity should not be our focus. If God desires to bless us with physical abundance, he will do so; but we should not usually pray for money or other possessions beyond what we need. In all too many cases people who receive a great deal of physical wealth are no happier and may be caused great unhappiness and loss of character in the long run. They truly "… pierced themselves with many griefs," as Paul wrote.
Nevertheless, there are some circumstances when prayer for more than we need personally is right in God's eyes. If we are praying for success or blessings in specific circumstances that would better enable us to help others or to do the work of God more effectively, that is a prayer that God will often honor; but we must always be careful of our own motivation in making such a request. Sometimes God will also bless us with abundance that is unasked for. And if he does bless us in that way, he may well have a reason for doing so. Very often, that reason involves making it possible for us to do his work and to help others whom he wants to see helped. We are often "blessed to be a blessing" to others, but that is in God's hands and not something we need worry about. We only need seeing eyes and understanding hearts to recognize the blessings we do receive and the opportunities they provide us – not for getting, but for giving. What We Want Most in Life For most of us, great physical prosperity is not important, and that is as it should be. But we do all have valid desires in life, as we have already seen. For all those things, we need only remember that God is the giver of all good gifts (James 1:17).
Once our lives become centered in God, it is often amazing how he does begin to bless us and to provide for even desires that are right and proper. One of the psalms – Psalm 37 – contains a wonderful passage that shows that principle very clearly.
Psalm 37 is a skillfully composed poem that David seems to have written as an old man (vs. 25), looking back over his life at "what works" and "what doesn't work." One of the most remarkable aspects of this psalm is found in its first seven verses. The psalm begins by reminding us of the fate of those who try to obtain their wants in wrong ways: "Do not fret because of those who are evil or be envious of those who do wrong; for like the grass they will soon wither" (vss. 1-2). But David then points to the potential for fulfillment of all our right desires:
Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun (vss. 3-7). First, David discusses our physical needs: "Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture" (vs. 3). Here, a life combining faith and good works ("trust" and "do good") puts us in position for God to care for our basic physical needs. Even though economic hardship sometimes happens to his people, God does supply the vital needs of those who walk with him (vs. 25).
Next, the psalmist covers the fulfillment of emotional needs for those whose devotion to God goes past the level of basic obedience: "Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart" (vs. 4). So often we find that as we walk more closely with God our perspective changes and we begin to "want" rightly and unselfishly – especially in our relationships with others – and our deepest emotional desires seem to be granted.
Then, David points to a level of total commitment to God: "Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun" (vss. 5-6). The word "commit" in this verse is a strong one which does not signify any kind of halfhearted application of our energy. The word is a form of the Hebrew word gol, used for the concept of "rolling" – as in rolling a large, heavy stone (Genesis 29:3, 8, etc.). It implies a fully energetic moving or thrusting of our will – an all-out effort toward God's way. This kind of commitment, David tells us, results in eventual achievement of even our highest spiritual goals.
In these few verses we see the fulfillment of everything we really want in this life and beyond: our physical needs, emotional desires, and ultimately our spiritual aspirations. David makes it clear that this three-level staircase of walking with God is no selfish investment program of giving more to get more. Rather, he paints a picture of the sincere development of our dedication and love for God, and the resulting fulfillment of our rightful desires that God delights to give us.