When God Doesn’t Give Us What We Ask For

In the New Testament we have the story of a man who was born lame and was carried each day to the temple to beg for alms and on one occasion he sees Peter and John and asks them for any money that they can spare. And Peter says that he doesn’t have any money, but he blesses him so that his feet and legs are healed and he can walk. Oftentimes we are like that man, doing what we can just to survive and we feel like if we could just get even a small amount of help, then we might make it through another day. And we may plead with the Lord but the Lord doesn’t give us what we ask for, but something so much better. There are many things that we have dealt with for so long, perhaps, even, since we were born, that have become such a part of us that we don’t realize our life would be immediately improved in every way if we could just be healed and cleansed and rid of the things that are crippling and hobbling and weighing us down. Of course the man who was born lame would have asked to be healed that he might walk and would have much preferred it to any amount of silver or gold, but he had lived in that way for as long as he could remember and had probably been resigned to living without the use of his legs a long time since. And I’m sure after his initial joy there were probably quite a few things for that man that were scary to deal with and he probably had to do a lot of growing and catching up to do. If the Lord answers our prayers in a way that is different than we had thought or hoped or desired, it is because He can see the whole picture and He has something for more wonderful and life-changing than we can possibly imagine, and yes, it may be scary at first, but we will come to see that in the end our lives are far better off with the miracles and the blessings and the healing and the peace that the Lord has given us, instead of the meager alms we had been requesting.