Instead, we should simply trust God to help us through things, instead of worrying about other people, and whether they have less or more than us.
I could tell many stories of times when God gave people just the money, food, or whatever they needed. Sometimes, God feels it best for people to go without a little bit, in time of need; some people who are homeless once were upper middle class until layoffs, high medical bills, and other things out of their control hurt them. Even then, God provides them with what they need, when they need it.
Take Job. He was even better off when disaster struck. He lost all his stuff, his kids died in what was likely a tornado, and he got a horrible disease, with painful boils. Sure, Job got very depressed, but he also said, “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” (Job 1:21) He’d come from his mother’s womb naked, and would have nothing worldly after he died, though if his children had trusted God for His promise to redeem them, he would see them again.
Job could have just as easily added that the things he had were really things he had wanted; God had known that they were things he needed. Although, in one of his anguished pleas, God grants him one thing that he simply wanted. Job cried, “Oh, that my words were now written! Oh, that they were printed in a book!” (Job 19:23) Indeed, he may mean all his words, or his faith in the future coming of Jesus which he claims in the next verses. Either way, God had great plans for Job’s words, to be used to speak to the suffering through all of time, and to be saved for eternity!
Our needs are usually not as dire as Job, with everything taken and surrounded by accusing friends. Nor are our wants so intense, though in earnest prayer for souls they can and should be. It should be a very sincere desire for each of us to see the lost won to Christ, and saved from Hell. But, we should want it for God’s glory.
Most of our wants are for mere physical things, though; for things, not people. How do we tell a want from a need, though? After all, God may have a job for someone that calls for them to cell phone. He may see that as not a need for someone else. Yes, food, clothing, shelter, and so on are needs everyone has, but what about other things? Things that point more toward specific plans?
The best way to tell is whose goals do you want to reach; yours or God’s?
Remember the Six Flags tickets the pastor’s son prayed for? He was probably about six, so God understood that he was not necessarily putting God first. But, it was God’s will that they went. The boy’s thought was almost certainly “I really want to go to Six Flags,” of course. But, if you really want something, you should still pray for it. God may be placing that in your heart so you will pray for it, just as He may have placed it in that boy’s heart for one or more of the reasons mentioned earlier.
However, also remember that you are older than he was. For God to honor a request based on something you want, you should have an attitude of wanting His will to be done. And, being willing to dedicate whatever you have – or get - to Him. And, you should be teaching those you disciple to grow in Christ, so they won’t be looking at God as just a vending machine for things they want. He will give us things according to his will in Christ Jesus, because He knows what’s best.
