The saying is deeply religious and draws on a very high spirituality.
Usually you think that the merit is what you get if you are loyal to duty, this is correct but it is about something more is what we get if we pass a bad time, the credit is in substance a reward for earthly labors.
The religious spirituality and faith in God teaches that God knows better than us what is good for us humans, because He created us so he knows better than us how we are what we really think and what is good for both our physical and for our soul.
So He knows if what we want is good for us or not, or if what others offer us is good for us.
In religious spirituality God being omniscient, so even knowing the future can tell if we do good or bad, this implies that for the good of the Father wants his children to know if it is good or bad for us, so if it's bad for us can avoid we suffer.
In summary, having what we ask we could do evil intending to do well and get a second chance so good that we would not be allocated to people who should benefit.
This last thought as atrocious is always part of religious spirituality to which not all the good that I receive may actually be the same for me. Eg. a father is not always good to his son if he always gives all he asks, sometimes it is good to suffer a bit 'but not too much, this helps to mold the character in the right way, too, however, could create a complete distrust in its being such as not being able to live, suffer the little door to pride.
In essence, still talking about the last case, well that those who receive the gift could give to others may not be useful or maybe not at the moment because they receive it.
Some people, though, nowadays distort and make it unlikely that being said, finding in that said not only wickedness and goodness as it really has always been planned, so according to these people if you do not have merit is simply because if I have neither a moral nor a real level. If you do not promote, or do not have money or you do not have quality, the fault is yours and no one else simply because you're too stupid to be able to have.
This is false and can not be used since the actual origins of that.
Rashna