– Ezra 9:8
How are you at dealing with the hard times of life? You know . . . the times when everything you do seems to turn bad; the dog bites you, and the cat scratches you (and throws up a hair-ball on your expensive rug), your kids are whining and complaining about not having enough this, that, and/or the other "thing" that their friends all have, your boss is all over your case over something you forgot to do, you hit a pothole and spill your coffee all over your new clothes on the way to work, you get a speeding ticket on the way home, you forget to thaw something out for dinner so you go to the fast food place and when you get home you find out they got your order wrong, and to top it all off . . . it's 100º outside and the AC broke and all you want to do is close your eyes because it's all going to start all over again tomorrow, but it's too hot to sleep and you're lying awake at 3am just wishing that "Calgon" would "take you away?"
OK, so maybe that's a little extreme but I think you get the point. There are hard times that we all go through, and while we're in the middle of them, life can seem to get the upper hand on us. But we survive. We overcome. We somehow make it through to the other end of the long, dark tunnel of gloom and we emerge where the sun is shining, and the birds are birding, and everything (for a while anyway) is hunky-dory and A-OK. And then . . . we forget about God for a while, because well . . . everything's good and we don't need His help anymore. Ouch!
Why is it that we pray hardest and we earnestly press in to God only when we are in the middle of our struggles, but not when things are going good? It's during the times of harvest – the easy times when we are feeling "blessed" that we should be praying our most earnest and heart-felt prayers to our God. We should be thanking Him, and exalting Him, and giving Him His due honor, because it's during these times, when our heads are clear, and our hearts are wide open, that we establish our firm foothold in the Faith and in the God who Loves us so much, and we build our strength in the knowledge of His Word and the Wisdom of His ways. It's BEFORE the storm that we should be preparing – not during – and certainly not after.
Think of it this way: if you are going on a trip across the country, and part of that trip is going to take you through a long, hot, arid desert, you prepare your car for the trip right? You make sure the vehicle is tuned up and that all the fluids are topped off. You check the tires to make sure there is enough tread and that they are in good road-trip shape, and you double-check to make sure the spare is in good condition as well; you check the AC to ensure a comfortable ride through the desert, and you pack an ice-chest with plenty of water to get you through the hot trip ahead. You wouldn't go into the desert unprepared would you? And you certainly wouldn't wait until you are broken down in the middle of nowhere to start praying for a miracle (although if you are broken down in the middle of nowhere, a miracle is exactly what you'll need). No, you establish your foothold ahead of time by preparing your vehicle so that you will get through almost any "normal" scenario you might encounter during your trip through the desert.
Why is it then, that we wait until we are in the middle of a crisis in our life to start praying and to start reading our Bibles? Change your circumstances BEFORE they happen by establishing your Grace with the God of Heaven and the Commander of the Angel Armies who are at the ready to fight on your behalf. God, our God, has given us the time BEFORE the hard times to establish ourselves – to establish our Grace by getting a firm foothold in the truth of His Word and by growing our love-relationship with Him so that WHEN it's time to serve out our hard sentence – to go through those hard times – He will brighten our eyes and lighten our burdens until our time of testing is done.
So get in your prayer closets my friends! Get on your knees! Raise your hands to heaven and praise your God (who loves you so much)! Call out His name and get to know Him on a real and personal level! Find out all you can about the God who knows your name and who personally breathed life into you so many years ago! Tell Him about your failures and confide in Him the deepest darkest fears that you've kept hidden from everyone else! Be vulnerable and expose your soul to Him! Establish your Grace with the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords! He has given you the time BEFORE the testing . . . it's time to take advantage of that brief time because your next hard time could be just around the corner.
Prayer
Father, thank You for those brief times - the times when we can breathe deep and feel the sun on our faces. Thank You for giving us time to establish a firm foothold in Your Holy place; for allowing us to commune with You and to get to know You on a deeper level. Forgive us for neglecting You during the good times and for only calling out to You during the hard times. Help us to establish a deep and lasting love-relationship with You during the times of blessing so that we can get through our hard times by the power of Your Grace.
Have a blessed day everyone!
– Richard
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