A God Who Gives

 Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. -Philippians 2:4

Someone very special to me recently made me realize something: sometimes we are not given what we want, because God is using us to give someone else what they need.

I have wasted a lot of time and too much anger being confused and frustrated with God, myself and others because He will not give me what it is I want.  However, I'm starting to see that God does not withhold things because we are unworthy (let's face it, if that were the case, we wouldn't get anything) or because He doesn't want us to be happy. Sometimes God withholds our desires from us because they get in the way of someone else's needs. Sometimes He withholds our desires from us because He desires something much greater than we do.

This is a tough pill to swallow, because let's face it, we are all to some extent egocentric beings.  I would love to have some desires of my own to come to fruition.  I have prayed they would, hoped they would, wished they would. However, God knows that those desires either are not right for me or are not right for me right now.  When the time is  right for me to get the things I want, they will be given to me freely and joyfully by Christ. If that time never comes, it is because Christ is going to give me something better than what I could have asked for myself. Either way, until that time comes, I can rest assured that whether or not I always get what I want, I always get what I need.