Desperate For the Easy Road
As time progresses and we grow older, the simple, carefree days of childhood gradually fade away and life becomes a lot more challenging.
As the difficulties and trials have increased I wonder if you, like me, have felt yourself feeling desperate for a more comfortable and easy road, hoping that it waits on the other side of this hard one.
The truth is it doesn’t.
As you go on, you will realise that in actual fact, the more you lean on the Lord and press on in seeking Him, the harder the road becomes. After all our faith must be tried and tested if it is to become gold.
The Road That Tests and Tries
I believe many of us don’t want to go through the refining process. We would rather just skip to being refined. We would rather the road were easy and comfortable because we are followers of Jesus. Yet being a follower of Jesus is the primary reason the road will not be easy.
We have an adversary who is seeking to thwart us at every turn. Sometimes his hindering work manifests itself in the attitudes and character of people around us, spiritual attacks or difficult situations.
Whatever the form, whatever the medium, he will use it to stop us from getting to the ultimate prize, Jesus Christ.
Because this is true, our journey as Christians will be challenging. Like Jesus promised, “In this world you will have tribulation”. But we can “be of good cheer” because He has overcome the world (John 16:33), and in turn so have we.
But what does really mean for us?
Overcoming the Difficult Road
That Jesus has overcome the world means that when that inevitable tribulation comes, it doesn’t have to destroy you.
It doesn’t have to take you out.
It doesn’t have to finish you off.
The difficult road doesn’t have to crush your faith instead it can help your faith grow. Instead of letting it push you away from God, you can let the hard road draw you closer to him.
By turning to Jesus and drawing on His strength that is made perfect in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9), you can rise above every challenge.
Our Prayer on the Hard Road
The truth is, just as the grass on the other side isn’t ever truly greener, the road on the other side will not really be easier. It will have its own tiring uphills, treacherous ditches and unwanted detours.
So as you walk the difficult road, you must remember not to pray that things would be easier but that God would make you stronger, in every sense of the word and in every area of your life.
Even as you yearn for the smooth paths. (Isaiah 40:4)
Even as you anticipate the still waters and green pastures. (Psalm 23:2)
Even as you look forward to a hopeful future. (Jeremiah 29:11)
You must pray for hind’s feet that will help you scale the hills that arise on your journey (Habakkuk 3:19), and ask for the strength to overcome.
