1 Kings 19:4

It was a remarkable thing that the man who was never to die, for whom God had ordained an infinitely better lot—the man who would be carried to heaven in a chariot of fire and be translated, so that he would not see death—should pray in this way, “Let me die, I am no better than my fathers.” We have here a memorable proof that God does not always answer prayer in kind, though He always does in effect.

God gave Elijah something better than what he asked for, and thus really heard and answered him. It was strange that the lion-hearted Elijah should be so depressed by Jezebel’s threat as to ask to die, and it was blessedly kind on the part of our heavenly Father that He did not take His desponding servant at his word.

There is a limit to the doctrine of the prayer of faith. We are not to expect that God will give us everything we choose to ask for. We know that we sometimes ask and do not receive, because we ask amiss. If we ask for what is not promised—if we run counter to the spirit that the Lord would have us cultivate—if we ask contrary to His will, or to the decrees of His providence—if we ask merely for the gratification of our own ease, and without an eye to His glory, we must not expect that we will receive.

Yet, when we ask in faith, nothing doubting, if we do not receive the precise thing asked for, we will receive an equivalent, and more than an equivalent, for it. As one remarks, “If the Lord does not pay in silver, He will in gold; and if He does not pay in gold, He will in diamonds.” If He does not give you precisely what you ask for, He will give you what is tantamount to it, and something that you will greatly rejoice to receive in its place. Therefore, dear reader, be much in prayer, and make this evening a season of earnest intercession, but be careful what you ask.