What do you say when you see somebody making any number of foolish decisions, acting unwisely, making wrong moves, and gradually winding themselves up for an emotional, physical or financial crash?
When the final crash comes, are you one of those people who turn around and say, "He asked for it!"? I suppose that we all say it, and the strange thing is that we’re right…because we do "ask for it," no matter what "it" is, quite literally. All the troubles in our lives have manifested because we have asked for them. Be Clear of Your Intention. Emmet Fox once said, "Be careful what you wish for because you’re liable to get it!" Desire, deep inner desire, is a powerful force, much more powerful than most of us realize. We wish for things very, very deeply and the very intensity of our wishes draws those things to us. But if we are wishing for the wrong things, when we get them we experience disappointment or pain.
The desires in your heart move in mysterious ways that none of us can really explain, and then they manifest in your life. We should be careful that we understand what it is we are wishing for. What we wish for might turn out to be a white elephant…
The old Rajahs in India, when they wanted to break a man they would give him a white elephant. The problems of cleaning it, feeding it and parading it would make a poor man of him – so it is in our lives. Many of the things we desire turn out to be white elephants. I think that life withholds from us any number of our foolish desires because they would likely turn out to be white elephants. Seeking Wisdom instead of Things. Perhaps, rather than desiring things, we ought to start seeking more wisdom. It’s a lot safer to seek wisdom, because having wisdom you find that you have the equipment to deal efficiently and humanely with other people and their problems. When you have wisdom, you don’t end up rushing blindly into foolish decisions that would inevitably lead to that crash. You don’t give others the opportunity to turn to you and say, "Well I suppose he or she desired it anyway. They really asked for it."
Many people give up asking for things when they don’t get exactly what they want immediately. They want what they ask for, but they don’t ask for what they need and there is often a stark contrast between the things that we think we want and the things we truly need.
Just imagine if as a child, your parents had given you everything you thought you wanted. What would happen that one time that you reached for the bottle of brightly colored disinfectant and wanted to drink it; or if you reached out to touch the beautiful flame? You thought you wanted it, but your parents realized you didn’t need it, in fact it would harm you, so it was withheld from you.
There is a difference between the things we want and our basic needs. If we ask not for things but for wisdom to understand what is right for us, then we will have everything that we need and often we learn that those were the things we wanted all along.
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