The Rolling Stones famously sang “You can’t always get what you want,” but the Bible says otherwise. You can get exactly what you want. No, the Bible does not support the so-called “prosperity gospel” that asserts that God wants all His children to be healthy and wealthy. It does not say that every wish will be granted if you earn enough obedience credits. But make no mistake, the Bible does say that God will give people what they want. According to the psalmist:
But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel would not submit to me. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels. (Psalm 81:11–12)
Luke applies the same principle when he associates the idol worship of Aaron’s golden calf with the false worship of divine beings:
And they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven… (Acts 7:41–42)
This seems to reach its climax in Romans 1:24-26
Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions…
From a biblical perspective the worst possible scenario is that we get exactly what we want! Happiness is not found in God giving us what we want, but wanting what God gives. Any enjoyment that the world has to offer is on an overcharged countdown clock. It may be satisfying for a while, but it never lasts. It is incapable of providing long-term fulfillment. God refers to it as the “fleeting pleasures of sin” (Heb. 11:25) and He tells us that “the world is passing away along with its desires” (1 Jn. 2:17).
Do not train your mind and heart to spiritualize your worldly desires. Don’t focus your prayers on imploring God to give you what you want and pressure Him to take away what you don’t. Don’t fixate on your preferred outcome and then fashion your prayers to increase the “likelihood” of God granting it. Pray instead that He might conform your desires to His desires. Remember that you are praying to a God that can bring honey from a rock to satisfy you (Ps. 81:16). He isn’t withholding the desires of your heart until you ask right, He is molding your desires to match His heart.
Conform your prayer life to Proverbs 3:5, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.” Use language that communicates trust and stay away from language that tries to instruct God about what your understanding is. Before you approach God in prayer, take a moment to think about what God desires and His promised result.
Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4)
And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him. (1 John 5:14–15)
Reverse engineer those two passages. God will give you what your heart desires if you take pleasure and are satisfied in Him. We can be confident that we get what we request from God if our requests glorify Him. Note the similarities—first, they both promise satisfaction, contentment and fulfillment, and second, God must be at the center.
One way or the other, God will give you what you want. Thank Him for not “giving you up” to your dishonorable appetites and, instead, communicate explicitly that you invite His help in molding your desires to be consistent with His. Don’t fear God’s process for you. He knows what you need before you ask and if you seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, all those things will be added to you.