"Why would God give me a desire & tell me not to act on it?"

It's similar to why some people are born with chronic diseases or disabilities, or into poverty or abusive homes, or given wealth or popularity. Allah tests us all in different ways, and these tests can become mercies.

Allah's tests can come in the form of things being given or taken away; being told what to do or what to abstain from. There's a difference.

Sometimes we see only see tests from our biased perspective, so we fail to recognize them. We see them only as blessings or punishments.

We rarely ask, "Why did God give me good health? Why did He give me a loving family? Why did He provide safety, education, & work for me?"

We see these "good things" (from our limited perspective) only as blessings to enjoy the fruits of, rather than tests we'll be asked about.

When Allah's tests challenge our biases and go against our preferences, we may view them as "bad things" and wonder why we are being punished. But just like those who are given "good things" aren't necessarily better, those tested with "bad" aren't worse. It's about how we react.

We can sometimes be unfortunately quick in reaching conclusions about God's intentions. Maybe we subconsciously want these simple, clear-cut answers because they help us trust our own intuition a little more and give us more confidence in our decisions moving forward.

That's where faith comes in: embracing the ambiguity of specific incidents because of a deep, sincere belief in the attributes of Mercy and Wisdom, among others, of the Creator who put them into motion. Every test comes from the same source.