What We Want & What We Get

The British wanted a death ray. In 1924. An inventor named H. Grindell Mathews claimed to have invented one and he said Germany had everything to make it as well. He never could prove it, however, but the idea started a panic. Soon newspapers were full of claims from scientists, such as Nico Tesla, that devices could use invisible waves to crash planes and stun people from great distances.

So British officials turn to Robert Watson-Watt to see about the feasibility of using radio waves as a weapon. In his report, he said it was an unworkable fantasy but he said it did have a less promising possibility. The waves could be used to pinpoint the location of enemy airplanes. This possibility might just have saved the British Empire.

This possibility, called Radio Detection And Ranging (RADAR), allowed the British to know the location of Nazi bombers during the “Battle of Britain” and gave them a critical advantage. This changed the course of the war. It wasn’t the death ray they wanted but it was the technology the needed.

So many times in our lives we are disappointed in what we have because it isn’t what we wanted. However, if we truly reflect on it what we get is more times than not better for us and even better than what we wanted.

Our blessings from God are not always what we ask for but they are what need. Even our trials and suffering, something we don’t want, can be for our greater good (James 1:2-4). God knows how to give better than we know how to ask.

So don’t be sad you didn’t get what you wanted, find joy in you got just what you needed!

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