The word “wish” is related to words like “desire,” “longing,” or “want.” The Greek ophelon, as found in the New Testament, means “would that,” which is an old-fashioned way of expressing “an unattainable wish.”
In Hebrew, the word “tseba” means “to be inclined, desire, be pleased.” But making a wish is an active choice rather than a feeling. Is it biblical to make wishes?
Is It Biblical to Make a Wish?
There are several traditional contexts for wish-making. They include plucking flower petals, throwing a coin in a fountain, or blowing out candles. These are often light-hearted traditions.
But some people truly make wishes with the sincere hope that someone is listening and is able to fulfill their specific desires. They direct their longings to the universe or a general idea of “god.”
According to numerology, one should make a wish when an “angel number” or some other repeating number appears on the clock, a license plate, or in the digits of a grocery bill. Examples would be 1234, a beloved friend’s birthday, or the date of a person’s wedding.
Jaliessa Sipress at Cosmopolitan wrote that 11:11, in particular, is “god’s number” because “it amplifies the energy of the 1.” Seeing a significant number is a sign, “an alert from the angelic energies that you are supported by forces you cannot see.”
This support includes wish fulfillment. One literally makes a wish with the expectation that the universe is listening and is willing to grant that wish.
A Biblical Wish
1. “I wish I had a sword in my hand, for then I would kill you” (Numbers 22:29). In the first example, Balaam had been humiliated by his donkey, who was frightened by the sight of angels and lay down beneath his master. Balaam expressed an unattainable wish — he had no sword to hand.
He also knew not to expect God to favor his disobedience and anger. This wish was a reaction to his frustration, an outward expression of the darkness in Balaam’s heart.
2. “I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness” (2 Corinthians 11:1). Paul’s use of “wish” is more like an ardent plea. Another translation of ophelon in 2 Corinthians 11:1 is “hope.”
Paul hoped the Corinthians would listen to his teaching and he said as much to them. The ones who could fulfill this wish were the Christians at Corinth who read his letter after all. His “wish” demonstrates his deep love for the Body of Christ.
‘Ask Whatever You Wish’
The Bible seems to promote “wishing.” After all, Jesus said in John 15:7, “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” John Piper explained, “The verse has two halves, a condition and a result.”
The condition is this: abide in Christ — submit to his authority and his sanctifying work, and find joy in obedience to Christ. The result is this: when one asks God for something, it will be granted to him.
Once a person abides in Christ, his or her “wishes” will tend to change because of the Holy Spirit, which shapes personal desires into those, which emulate a Christlike worldview. “God designed prayer to give his disciples the joy of bearing fruit while God himself gets the glory.”
Wishes, longings, desires: they change when one truly abides in Jesus. And the nature of “wishing” loses its transactional inference, gaining a dimension of conversation.
Whatever a disciple wishes is actually a prayer, and in that prayer, he or she will want to please God. “The key to praying with power is to become the kind of persons who do not use God for our ends but are utterly devoted to being used for his ends.”
Wishes start with the wish-maker; they emanate from wanting something in the earthly sense. Prayers start with Christ. On the other hand, the fulfillment of Christian desires is counterintuitive to a secular world where “do what makes you happy” is the abiding mantra.
So often, people think of God as a genie and prayer as “making a wish.” But prayer is a conversation with God, a way of acknowledging that only the Lord has the power to meet the needs of his people.
Since God is Father, and his children are invited to ask for whatever they need, it is right to do so as Jesus said, “which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?” (Matthew 7:9).
The Lord alone can answer the deepest needs of a person: to be free from the power of sin, to be loved lavishly without fear of losing God’s love or being inadequate in his eyes, to have a place to call “home” for all of eternity.
The Weaknesses of Wishes
So, is it wrong to make wishes? Here are three reasons why, yes, it is wrong to sincerely wish on angel numbers or to rely on lucky charms, for example.
1. If one is praying to “the Universe,” then he or she is worshiping another god. “You shall have no other gods before me” is a pretty clear command (Exodus 20:3).
Another god could be an actual figure (Shiva, Buddha, Satan, Baal), some vague picture of a powerful being, or an idol such as dice or sex.
“If I roll double sixes, my wish of being free from the drudgery of work will come true!” “If I can just have sex, then I will feel like someone loves me. That’s all I ever wanted.”
2. Wishing for things according to self-directed longings that have not been vetted by the Holy Spirit is disobedient.
Jesus did not tell us it was unnatural to wish or pray; only that when we do so, we must ask God for direction.
That is why his followers abide in Christ before they express their wishes in prayers to the Living God. “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love” (John 15:10).
An essential parting of “abiding” is “keeping commandments.” It is impossible to make Christ-focused wishes while coveting something a neighbor owns or wishing for ill to befall one’s enemy.
3. Wishing is illogical. Why should a nameless, uninvolved universal power care if a fulfilled wish will cause harm or interfere with someone else’s wish?
Why would a powerful deity be required to fulfill wishes if someone waited for the correct time or held the proper talisman?
If such a deity existed, he would either be easily manipulated by mere mortals in this way or manipulative in his own right.
Imagine a “power” who would either allow himself to be controlled in this way, one who had no overarching plan, which could not be interfered with according to mortal whims?
Or a power that created a hierarchy of wishes so that believers would have to earn favor in order for their wishes to be fulfilled.
Jesus condemned the Pharisees for this kind of thing: “They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger” (Matthew 23:4).
All believers are equal in the sight of God, and he regards their longings not according to the worth of the believer but according to the blood of the Lamb.
Moreover, he always answers, but not always with a “yes” because his plans are better than ours. God is concerned with his own will, his own glory, and our good.
The Good Side of Wishing
Paul’s wish for the church at Corinth is based on truth and also reveals a heart of love for God and for his brothers and sisters. A good wish can also become the basis for “positive change [which] can become a goal and then reality.”
An example would be wishing to know more about God, leading to more discipline around Bible study and, eventually, a more fruitful, informed, and joyous relationship with God.
For further reading:
What Should Christians Know about the Study of Astrology?
Does God Know the Future and Does He Let Us Know It?
Photo Credit: ©iStock/Getty Images Plus/bernardbodo
