“I always do what pleases Him.” —Jesus
“My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work.” —Jesus
Imagine that one misty morning, while walking alone toward the first tee, you came upon a weathered, mysterious old caddie sitting beneath an oak tree. No one at the club seems to know him.
As you passed, he looked up and said, “Today, I can grant you one wish for your golf game. Only one. Choose wisely.”
What would you wish for? A putting stroke that never misses inside five feet? A driver that never misses a fairway?
The fulfillment of wishes has long been part of folklore—and everyday life. From childhood, we’re taught to make a wish before blowing out birthday candles. Then there’s the sarcastic “I wish” when something sounds too good to be true. Wishes can even turn dark: “I wish he would just die.”
So, what is it about wishing?
Stories have long warned us about the danger of getting what we want. King Midas wished that everything he touched would turn to gold, only to discover that even his food and drink became gold. The Prodigal Son wanted his inheritance immediately, got exactly what he asked for, and nearly destroyed his life.
Then there’s W. W. Jacobs’s The Monkey’s Paw, in which a mysterious paw grants three wishes. Its previous owner used all three. When asked about the man’s final wish, the answer is chilling: “I don’t know what the first two were, but the third was for death.”
Maybe the danger isn’t simply that our wishes won’t come true. Maybe the greater danger is that they will.
Scripture never suggests that Jesus came to grant our wishes. His deepest desire was to do what “pleases Him”—God the Father—and He called His followers to do the same.
In Gethsemane, under the dark shadow of the cross, Jesus prayed, “Yet not as I will, but as You will.” His surrender to the Father led through death to resurrection, an eternal Kingdom, and all authority in heaven and on earth.
This was something far greater than wish fulfillment. It was participation in the divine conspiracy—God’s hidden plan of redemption unfolding, the long night giving way to morning.
Here is the great irony of the Christian life: To receive what we ultimately long for, we must surrender what we think we want.
As difficult as it sounds, the way of Jesus is not a shortcut to getting what we wish for. It is a journey with our Maker through the valley of the shadow of death—a journey that ultimately brings life not only to us but also to those around us.
Even the desires God grants are meant to serve His greater purposes. Often, it is through discipline, suffering, and surrender that He prepares us to receive His blessings without being mastered by them, so that what He gives us can be used for His glory and the good of others.
So, perhaps the better question isn’t, “What do I wish for?” but “Whose desires are shaping my life?”
Let go of your wishes and make room for the call of God on your life. You may discover that what He desires for you is far grander, deeper, and more meaningful than anything you could have imagined for yourself.
Sometimes the greatest wishes that come true are the ones we didn’t even know we had.
Prayer: Lord, teach me Your ways as I abandon my own.