Does God always give us what we want?  There are certainly those who say the answer is yes.  Especially if we have enough faith.  I got an email the other day with this passage from the Bible:  This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.  That sounds like God will always give is what we want – doesn’t it?  The thing is – that email came from biblegateway.com.  Surely, this isn’t what they meant to say – is it?

Is God really the ultimate gift dispenser – giving us our every desire?

Or is something missing?

Is it really from the Bible?

The first thing is probably to confirm – yes – this really is from the Bible.  It’s from the section the NIV calls Concluding Remarks, in 1 John.  Here’s the passage again, with verse numbers included.

1Jn 5:14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

But …

Hang on a minute.  Did you catch the part about “according to His will“?  

That begs the question – what is His will? 

For some, it’s whatever we want, as long as we have enough faith.  You can read about a sometimes claimed link between faith and healing in The Problem of Healing (or Not).

For others, God wants us to be happy, so it’s whatever makes us happy.  You can read about the so-called “prosperity gospel” in Searching for hope – but not finding it?.

Just based on those two examples, you can probably guess that what we think is God’s will may more likely be our will, not His at all.

Does God always give us what we want?

Obviously (hopefully it’s becoming obvious at least) the answer is no – God does not always give us what we want.

We already saw that God gives according to His will – not ours.  But – there’s more.  

Let’s look at that 1 John passage in context.

1Jn 5:13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. 14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

Oh.  Now we’ve added you who believe in the name of the Son of God.  Well, that certainly changes things.  I recently published Being a real Christian isn’t easy. You do not want to leave too, do you? which goes into some detail about the difference between those who have some measure of belief about Jesus, as compared to those who actually believe in Jesus.  The people in the latter group are the ones who do things in their lives because of their belief.  Furthermore, that belief is really based on the Bible – not someone’s version of what they think the Bible really means – as opposed to what it says it means.  It’s real belief – and real action because of that.

To love – or not to love

There’s something else in 1 John that gives us an idea of whether or not what we’re asking for is God’s will – or ours.

Do Not Love the World

1Jn 2:15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.

That’s a pretty good way for us to test the things we want to ask for.  What do we want?  Why do we want it?  And if the thing(s) we want is for this life and this world – it’s our will.

To continue that thought – we also should look at the differences between God’s love – and our love.

God’s Love and Ours

1Jn 4:7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

God’s love isn’t a better version of our love.  The “love” that we have is but a shadow of God’s love.  If it wasn’t for God love for us, we wouldn’t even have the slightest clue what love is.  

1Jn 4:13 We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

This is so basic.  And yet, so important.  And often not really accepted.  Without this, we are still clueless as to the true meaning of love.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. 17 In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

I think we often have fear in human love.  Fear that the one we love well hurt us.  Fear that they will leave us.  Or take advantage of us.  And all too often, that’s exactly what happens.  Even if it’s not intentional – it happens.  Because our love is such a pale shadow of God’s love for us.

1Jn 4:19 We love because he first loved us. 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

Again – even the little bit of love that we do understand comes to us through God’s love for us.  And if we love the way He does – then there’s no room for hating each other.

putting it all together

And so – considering all of this, the answer to the question of Does God always give us what we want? has to be no.

I repeat – it has to be no! 

It’s because God loves us that He cannot give us everything we want.  If God gave us everything we wanted, then we would see Him as that magic gift giver.  The one who satisfies all of our desires.  No matter what they are.  And when He gives us those things we desire for evil purposes – things that would keep us from loving Him for who He really is – then, God becomes the one who performs evil.  God would be the one who leads us to Hell.  

That simply cannot happen.

So we see – for a very real reason, God cannot give us everything we want.

We must try to line up our view of love with His – and act accordingly.  And in the same way, we must try to line up our will with His – and ask accordingly. 

Notice – I said “try”.  We will never fully succeed.  Not this side of Heaven, anyway.  But the better we become at listening, loving, and trying to do God’s will – the closer we come to what John wrote – 

that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

And let me close with more of John’s words – his closing from 1 John –

1Jn 5:21 Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.

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