Answered Prayer

why getting what you want isn't always getting what you need

Scripture Reading: 1 Samuel 10 and Proverbs 16:33

Garth Brooks famously sang, “Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayer…” There is truth in that line. Sometimes God graciously withholds from us the thing we earnestly desire. He does so because he sees the end from the beginning. He knows how it will turn out if we get what we want. Sometimes it's not a pretty picture.

At the same time, we must realize God might give us exactly what we demand and let us suffer the consequences of those lusts. That’s what happened when God gave Israel Saul as a king. It wasn’t the fact that they wanted a king that was the problem. Moses foresaw that they would eventually have a king and it wasn’t frowned upon. It was always going to be a part of God’s purposes. Eventually, their king would be The King, Jesus, and he would be a descendant of the line of kings coming from David. That wasn’t an afterthought or a ‘plan B.’ That was decreed from eternity past.

As someone put it, the problem wasn’t that they wanted a king under God. It was that they wanted a king instead of God. The Jewish king was, in God’s design, to rule under the rulership of God. He was to institute God’s laws and mete out God’s justice. The judges acted sporadically in this role. The Israelites were dissatisfied with God’s ruling through human agency. They wanted a ruler who acted out of his ability, strength, wisdom, and power. That is one of the reasons Saul was a prime candidate. He looked the part.

So, God gave them what they wanted. That, as we know, didn’t turn out well. Saul eventually turned toward witchcraft. God rejected him. The nation suffered for a time. Eventually, God gave them the kind of king they needed in David, a man after God’s own heart. But first, he gave them what they wanted.

What we want isn’t always what we need, but sometimes God will give us what we want so that we can learn what we need.