+III. Good men have had desires which have not been granted.+ The gratification of such desires would have been an injury to themselves and others. Moses desired to see God in the sense in which the Incarnate Son tells us He had seen Him. But if this desire had been granted Moses must have died, the Hebrew nation would have lost the only man who could lead them, and he would have missed the completion of the glory of his life (Exod. xxxiii. 20). Peter desired that His Master should not suffer at the hands of the chief priests and scribes (Matt. xvi. 21). But what a calamity this would have been for Peter himself and the human race. +IV. But that which a righteous man desires above all other things shall be granted.+ 1. _For himself in the present life, he desires a holy character._ This he regards as the "one thing needful" above all other personal possessions. And God desires this for him, therefore this desire shall be granted on the fulfilment of the pre-ordained conditions (1 Thess. iv. 3). 2. _For the world he desires that God's kingdom may "come," that right may in the end triumph over wrong._ Now this desire also must be granted, because Christ has taught His disciples to pray for its accomplishment, and because He Himself at the right hand of God is "henceforth expecting, till His enemies be made His footstool" (Heb. x. 13). 3. _He desires for himself in the future a complete redemption of both soul and body from the curse of sin_ (2 Cor. v. 1-4). But this desire is implanted within him by that God who can fulfil his desire, and who has already given an earnest of its fulfilment. This alone is a guarantee that it shall be granted. "Now He that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit" (2 Cor. v. 5). He has also the direct promise of Him who is "the Resurrection and the Life," the assurance of His inspired apostle that this desire of the righteous shall be granted (John v. 28-29; 1 Cor. xv. 49-54). _OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._ But _if our desires be granted,_ and even exceeded (Gen. xlviii. 2; 1 Kings iii. 13; Ephes. iii. 20), faith and patience will be tried in the very _grant._ Growth in grace is given by deep and humbling views of our corruption. Longings for holiness are fulfilled by painful affliction; prayers are answered by crosses. Our Father's dispensations are not what they seem to be, but what He is pleased to make them.--_Bridges._