Week Thirty-Eight - Why is Life So Hard?

One of my little sayings was, "If we'd all work together, we can get this done in thirty minutes." But, trying to get my children to work together was like herding cats, and the thirty-minute job turned into a several-hour event. Today, as adults, my children look back and see things would have been much easier and quicker if they'd just worked together, and they laugh as they hear themselves saying similar things to their children.

It's a shame it takes us so long to learn certain skills. Our obstinance and refusal to cooperate make life harder than it needs to be. For example, we purchase packet furniture and ignore the directions. Then, we get angry because it doesn't go together correctly. We speed and get angry at the policeman for the ticket. We lose our temper and spout hateful words, then wonder why people avoid us. We disrespect our spouse and then wonder why they don't respond lovingly.

Why do we do these things? Why do we make life so hard? It's hard enough without our adding to the situation. What can we do?

There is no simple formula for making life easy. We are broken and live on a broken planet with broken people. We cannot change that, but we can do some things to make life gentler and less difficult.

Initially, we can obey. Nike's slogan, "Just Do It," would be good for us to adopt. Obey without question or delay, and things usually go much smoother for everyone. Just following instructions and doing as we are told helps loads! 

Obeying our parents is the first skill we should learn because obedience brings happiness to the home and creates healthy relationships. Then, we learn obedience to authority in school and society. This brings unity to the community and earns us a good reputation. Ultimately, obedience must be applied to our submission to God's Word.

We make life less difficult by trusting the Lord, committing our lives to Him, taking one step at a time, living with a confident faith, and believing God's will is best. But we are so fatally prone to do the opposite, making life more difficult. 

When we don't obey, we hit hurdles. When we aren't trusting the Lord, we are trusting ourselves, which rarely works out well for us. When we don't commit our lives to Him, we are saying we can do it on our own, and that's a very lonely place. When we race ahead without taking each necessary step, we may arrive at our destination, but we will be ill-equipped for continuance. When we aren't living by confident faith, the Bible says it is a sin, the sin of self-reliance and pride. And when we fail to believe God's will is best, we create a world of chaos that makes life so hard.

So, today's challenge is to look at the hard spots in your life and ask yourself if they result from your disobedience toward God, your parents, your spouse, or even your employer. Is it a failure to fully trust God and believe His way is best? Is life hard because your self-reliance and pride put you at odds with others? Have you created a world of chaos by your unwillingness to obey or demanding your way?

If so, by cooperating with the Lord, most things can be sorted—maybe not in thirty minutes, but in His timing. Are you willing to cooperate? Or are you going to continue running riot like a herd of cats?