My prayer request is for us all to be careful what you pray for, friends, and in all things defer to His will. I share this from personal experience!
There are several instances in the Holy Scriptures where God grants a request, and yet the answer to prayer becomes a burden:
1. Israel’s demand for a king
The people rejected God’s rule and demanded a king “like all the nations.” God told Samuel, “Hearken unto the voice of the people... for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me” (1 Samuel 8:7). He gave them Saul in anger and the monarchy that followed brought centuries of war, oppression, and division (1 Samuel 8:9-18).
2. Israel’s craving for meat in the wilderness
The people wept for flesh instead of manna. God said, “Ye shall eat... until it come out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome unto you” (Numbers 11:19-20). He sent quail, “and while the flesh was yet between their teeth... the Lord smote the people with a very great plague” (Numbers 11:33).
3. Rachel’s demand for children
“Give me children, or else I die,” Rachel cried to Jacob (Genesis 30:1). She did bear children and then died giving birth to the second one, Benjamin (Genesis 35:18-19).
4. Lot’s choice of the well-watered plain
Lot “lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere” and chose it for himself (Genesis 13:10-11). That choice placed him in Sodom, cost him his home, his wife, and nearly his life (Genesis 19:15-26).
5. Hezekiah’s prayer for extended life
Hezekiah wept and prayed against a sentence of death, and God added fifteen years to his life (2 Kings 20:1-6; Isaiah 38:1-5). In those added years he fathered Manasseh, who became one of Judah’s most wicked kings and led the nation toward the judgment that ended in exile (2 Kings 21:1-16; 2 Chronicles 33:1-9).
6. Balaam’s permission to go with Balak’s princes
Balaam pressed God repeatedly for leave to go. God let him go, however “God’s anger was kindled because he went” (Numbers 22:20-22), and the journey ended in Balaam’s death among Israel’s enemies (Numbers 31:8).
A verse that names the pattern directly would be Psalm 106:15 — “And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul” which is chiefly describing the quail episode in Numbers 11, but is often read as the summary principle behind all of these accounts.
There are several instances in the Holy Scriptures where God grants a request, and yet the answer to prayer becomes a burden:
1. Israel’s demand for a king
The people rejected God’s rule and demanded a king “like all the nations.” God told Samuel, “Hearken unto the voice of the people... for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me” (1 Samuel 8:7). He gave them Saul in anger and the monarchy that followed brought centuries of war, oppression, and division (1 Samuel 8:9-18).
2. Israel’s craving for meat in the wilderness
The people wept for flesh instead of manna. God said, “Ye shall eat... until it come out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome unto you” (Numbers 11:19-20). He sent quail, “and while the flesh was yet between their teeth... the Lord smote the people with a very great plague” (Numbers 11:33).
3. Rachel’s demand for children
“Give me children, or else I die,” Rachel cried to Jacob (Genesis 30:1). She did bear children and then died giving birth to the second one, Benjamin (Genesis 35:18-19).
4. Lot’s choice of the well-watered plain
Lot “lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere” and chose it for himself (Genesis 13:10-11). That choice placed him in Sodom, cost him his home, his wife, and nearly his life (Genesis 19:15-26).
5. Hezekiah’s prayer for extended life
Hezekiah wept and prayed against a sentence of death, and God added fifteen years to his life (2 Kings 20:1-6; Isaiah 38:1-5). In those added years he fathered Manasseh, who became one of Judah’s most wicked kings and led the nation toward the judgment that ended in exile (2 Kings 21:1-16; 2 Chronicles 33:1-9).
6. Balaam’s permission to go with Balak’s princes
Balaam pressed God repeatedly for leave to go. God let him go, however “God’s anger was kindled because he went” (Numbers 22:20-22), and the journey ended in Balaam’s death among Israel’s enemies (Numbers 31:8).
A verse that names the pattern directly would be Psalm 106:15 — “And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul” which is chiefly describing the quail episode in Numbers 11, but is often read as the summary principle behind all of these accounts.