Expect It to Be Hard... : Chapter 1

Sunday, July 03, 2011 Posted by Debbie Legg

Why is life so stinking hard sometimes? Certainly our FRIEND, God, could make life at least a LITTLE easier.

Let’s see. God took good care of His Only Begotten Son, right? I mean, it’s not as if Jesus battled Satan all by himself after forty days in the wilderness with no food or water. It’s not as if Jesus was picked on or conspired against by the ruling Pharisees. Of course God made it so Jesus wasn’t unfairly beaten, spit on, or hung on a cross to die an agonizing death. Jesus had an easy and comfortable life, right? NOT!

Try as I might, I can’t find a story in the Bible that says God created us so we could be happy and have a good time. *sigh* Okay. I give. My expectation of an easy, comfortable life are going right out the window.

As it turns out, God is more interested in our holiness than our happiness. If Jesus learned obedience from the things He suffered (Hebrews 5:8), then maybe we need to as well. God will use whatever means necessary, including suffering, to draw us to Him and to grow us into the people He created us to be.

We must also remember that there are more characters in this novel than God and us. Life is hard because we have opposition. The world, our own sinful desires, and The Enemy are constantly trying to take us down.

I’m not trying to sound overly dramatic here, but in all honesty, life IS dramatic. Life is challenging. It’s a battle. It’s Good versus Evil for our very lives. Eternity is at stake here.

Fortunately, a life full of difficulty and strife is not our entire story.

Unfortunately, you’ll have to place your bookmark here, at the end of this chapter, and pick it up again tomorrow.