Christians are not immune to hardships, far from it in fact. We know this. We are called to follow in the footsteps of Christ after all, and nobody is going to argue that He had an easy life. But we also know that in the hardest moments of His life on earth, He was EXACTLY where God had called Him to be. The disciples certainly didn’t have a walk in the park. And the heroes of the faith walked on that alone: Faith.
I feel incredibly silly admitting this, but it didn’t even occur to me until recently that Abraham, Issac, Jacob, Joseph & Moses, didn’t even have the Bible to lean on. They had tradition. And they had God. But that was enough. And it still is.
And even though we know the stories and what they endured for the Faith, we somehow fall into a trap sometimes of thinking if we walk by God’s will, that everything will always be smooth sailing for us as modern-day Christians. When we face challenging times, we question ourselves, wondering what we might have done to deserve this. We question God’s love for us. And even our best efforts to block it out may even let the enemy slip some doubt into our minds about God’s faithfulness.
One of my favorite lines from a song goes “just know the Kingdom of God is within you, even though the battles are bound to continue.” But reality is, the first half of that line is all you need to know. God is with you. When we suffer loss, He provides peace. When we face illness, He provides comfort. When others hurt us, He provides love. And when we fail, He provides mercy and grace.
Not sometimes. Not for some people who deserve it. For everybody, always. And when we don’t know how that is possible, He provides Faith. We just have to take Him at His Word.
