God's Gifts or God Himself ?

I have noticed of late that many people’s woes stem from ‘Needing’ what they want but not wanting what they need. It creates a lot of tension, pressure, disappointment and often broken relationships. Sometimes it seems that God gives in to the whims of His children (and sometimes not) but which is really the greater blessing? 

We can feel at times that some people are jumping the queue when it comes to blessings, that our prayers are stuck in God’s spam folder somewhere and in a spirit of false comparison we feel a bit left behind. But if you take a long view what is revealed may be quite unexpected. 

An acquaintance of mine, a prayerful man to begin with, was given the opportunity to have a business in his chosen field. He did everything in prayer, from applying for contracts, to suppliers, to staff; each meeting or letter he wrote would be under God’s guiding hand. He did well. From being an employee he was catapulted to success, multimillion Peso contracts flowed in like a river and profits with them. At what point things changed I don’t know. He acquired property, vehicles, houses, luxuries, holidays and entered into ventures without seeking God’s guidance and things started to fall apart. Bad payers squeezed the cash flow, unexpected tax bills, and his integrity in money matters was compromised. During that time, periodically he turned back to God, who bailed him out; then he would repeat his folly and back to repentance and so on. It’s an old story of lacking the character to rule the kingdom. Perhaps it’s part of his learning curve. 

Others face economic calamity, pray for a restoration of past glories and instead realise that there is a gift within losses; the discovery of the benefits of simplicity. That having God is enough of itself without being adorned with gifts and blessings to make life comfortable.

Would we rather have God’s gifts and troubles or God Himself and peace of mind?