Wish rhymes have become quite cliché over the years. Wishing on a star, wishing wells, birthday candles, eyelashes, even potato chips! Our culture is obsessed, not just with making wishes, but with getting what we want, when we want it. I wish I had this, I wish I looked like her….I wish they made Banana Snapple again. What? One can wish, right? Wishing is fun and cute in context, but now prayer life has become the equivalent of blowing the seeds off of a dandelion. To some, God has become a wish granting genie and when their “wish” isn’t granted they blame their own lack of faith, or worse, they blame God. I wouldn’t call my best friend only when I wanted something, and then stop calling her if she didn’t give it to me. Yet Christians are doing the same thing to our Holy Savior. There is lack of contentment for what we have and lack of faith for what God plans for us. Over and over the Bible tells us to wait on the Lord. It feels like He is never going to answer though!

Another thing we seem to forget is the answer isn’t always going to be yes. Sometimes He wants us to wait and sometimes the answer is no. As much as we don’t like to be told no, I would prefer a no that is the Will of God, rather than a yes that is my own will. The song Unanswered Prayers is so true. Many times in my life I have wanted something so much and the Lord told me no. Now I look back and I am so grateful He said no. I only wish (no pun intended.) that I had been more submissive to His answer then.

In Numbers 14 we read about the Israelites:

 

Numbers 14:2 “And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness!”

 

Discontent, murmuring, whining, complaining……so the Lord replied:

 

Numbers 14:28 “Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the LORD, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you:”

 

God was like fine, if that’s what you want….Their reply is so sad, it’s almost funny:

 

Numbers 14:40 “And they rose up early in the morning, and gat them up into the top of the mountain, saying, Lo, we be here, and will go up unto the place which the LORD hath promised: for we have sinned.”

 

Oh, never mind, we were wrong, we want Your way after all!.....but it was too late.

 

Many times following your own way instead of God’s way has a permanent consequence. One example is in the area of marriage. God helps show us His will through people, circumstances, and His Word. Picking the right spouse is something I want to make sure is His will, and not mine. After all, marriage is a lifetime commitment.

As I have grown older I have found great joy and contentment in knowing I don’t have to worry about anything. If it is God’s Will nothing can prevent it, and if it is not His Will, nothing can make it happen. All I have to do is submit. One of my favorite hymns goes, “Content whatever lot I see, for tis God’s hand that leadeth me.”

 

Psalms 37:4

“Delight thyself also in the LORD: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”

 

When you are walking close to the Lord, what He desires for you will become what you desire for yourself. His Will becomes your will.

Be careful what you wish for? How about, “Not my will, but Yours be done.”