Give Me the Easy Road
Recently in our home bible study group, we were looking at passages in Proverbs, and the wisdom of trusting in God. One of the passages we read is my favorite – Proverbs 3:5-6. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” We talked about how we should make God a part of our decisions. We should actively seek his counsel and guidance. We ask him to show us the way we should go.
After ruminating on these thoughts, I was thinking on these things some more. What I’m going to speak from here on is my own personal experience, and I am not accusing anyone else of anything. Of course I should seek God’s counsel. It’s admirable to ask for his guidance. But what if I don’t receive a clear signal or message from God about some decision I am seeking his guidance for? What do I do then? Why isn’t God answering me? I want to do right by him – why wont he tell me what he wants me to do? We had a men’s retreat years ago where Jim McGuiggan spoke to us on prayer. I remember one of the notes from his handout was about asking God for his help in making good decisions. His example was “should I move to Pittsburgh or not?”* What do you do, what do I do, if I cannot get a clear sense of God telling me of what I need to do, of what he wants me to do?
As I thought on these things, I had more thoughts. Deep down in my inner self, I’m not really seeking God’s counsel. What I’m really wanting is a decision where everything is smooth and easy, everything comes out fine, and no unpleasantries meet me on my way. Where everything turns out successful. How often do I think of God’s way being the way that is free of obstacles and trouble? Where God’s way is smooth and easy, and no pain or suffering accompanies the path? How often, when I pray, is this what I’m really intending-that I want an answer or path that is free of difficulty? Even though I frame it in a noble and grand fashion of asking God to guide me in my decisions.
I fear that when I pray like this, as much as I want to trust in God, I don’t think I’m really trusting in God. That is, I’m asking for the easy way out. God may have his reasons. Perhaps he says “I don’t want you to move to Pittsburgh, but I’m going to let you move to Pittsburgh, and then through what you suffer from there, you’ll know that I didn’t want you to move to Pittsburgh. Then we’ll both be on the same page as to whether you should live in Pittsburgh or not.” I prefer the answer that says “don’t move to Pittsburgh, it won’t go well for you.” I should be praying that if I do move to Pittsburgh, I can do good things for God there. If I suffer for moving to Pittsburgh, then I suffer for doing good. And that if it is God’s will that through my suffering I learn his answer for me, I can trust that this is how he wanted me to learn the answer to that prayer. I can trust God that he is ever with me, and sometimes he will call me to suffer. When I ask for the easy way out, maybe I get complacent and feel as if since everything is going well, then maybe I don’t need God. Contrast not needing God to how many times in a time of struggle, do we lean on God, and lean in hard on him? And was the life that Jesus led one of luxury and ease and comfort? Or did his life have its challenges?
God is always with us. And sometimes when I suffer, I may not have that trust that he is still with me. Because things aren’t smooth and easy, I may feel abandoned or forsaken. I may feel as if God isn’t pleased with me. I’ll ask, “God, why didn’t you give me the easy road with great results?” I have trouble trusting in God. But then there are times when I pray that “whatever the outcome, I trust in you,” somehow whatever I’m going through is not quite as bad. Oh, it can be bad, but it’s not as bad as when I feel that God is not with me in the suffering. There are times I struggle trusting that God is with me. Hebrews 13:5 – “…God has said, ‘never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’” That’s a quote of Deuteronomy 31. In Matthew 28:20, Jesus says “I am with you always.” At our baptism, we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, such that the Spirit himself indwells us. When my prayer is for ease, my prayer reflects my lack of trust in God’s presence that is ever with us. But when my prayer acknowledges that God is sovereign, that regardless of the decision he will be with me, that his will rules, and that within God’s hands, no matter what happens, I will be OK - while I still may have struggles, they are more tolerable. Because God is with me. I’m not abandoned.
And maybe, by imitating Christ, and “entrusting myself to him who judges justly” (1 Peter 2:23), I’m “becoming transformed into Christ’s image” (2 Corinthians 3:18) a little more each day.
*(I have nothing against Pittsburgh. I’ve never been there. That’s just the town I think was used in the example in Jim’s handout. So if it appears that I’m talking bad about Pittsburgh, that’s not what is going on.)
-Mike Hendricks