“When The Going Gets Tough…..”

“We must be prepared, for the Lord will come when we do not expect—often at precisely those moments we feel farthest from God.” (Magnificat 8-7-22; ref. Luke 12:32-48)

Doing God’s will is always the right thing to do, whether I feel like doing it or not. How often our feelings can betray us; they can signal the wrong direction. “ Gee, I don’t feel like doing this now, I’m tired….. boy oh boy I’m miserable, how can I get out of this …. I’m distracted and need a break….. I don’t need to pray today.” 

If I  only followed the Lord when I felt like it, then a big chunk of the time, I wouldn’t do it.  I was talking to a friend the other day about attending our men’s group. We both agreed that often when we realize we have a men’s group that night, we really don’t feel like going… “I’m tired and want to veg out, or I just don’t feel up to sharing about my life which seems to be pretty crummy at the moment”.  Yet we also agreed that once we actually get to the meeting, we perk up as we hear others sharing and as we pray together, and we leave grateful for this special time.  It’s a constant battle to do God’s will. Yet as we choose to do it, we get blessed. 

I was talking to one of my grandsons who just returned from his summer service of helping lead adventure camping trips for older grade school and high school boys. These trips are focused on the Lord and growing in faith in the context of some pretty rigorous outdoor trips. He spoke about the challenge of pushing through when the going got tough. The temptations are pretty common to all…. “ why am I doing this… I could be at home without all this discomfort…I could be with my friends…I don’t know these kids… bla,bla,bla.” Yet he also shared that the Lord gave him the grace to decide to embrace the challenge and go for it with a good attitude. It wasn’t easy, but he did it and grew incredibly in his relationship with the Lord and the boys, and was blessed 30, 60, and 100 fold. It was the adventure of a lifetime.

So as we read in the scripture today, “we must be prepared for the Lord will come at a time we don’t expect”. We prepare for that time by doing his will, day in and day out…when it’s easy and when it’s hard…. when we feel like quitting and when we are having a ball. 

This is true whether you’re the age of my grandson who is 18 years old, or the age of his grandfather who is some 60 years older. The principle is the same. We must stay in the fight. We must seek to do God’s will in season and out. Every time we obey the Lord, we grow as a man (or woman) of God. It’s almost always a challenge, but it yields to fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it. (ref. Hebrews 12) And if we do this today, we will be ready when the Lord returns one day for us. And that is very good news.