Should we be hoping for the easy way?

Just thinking after talking with two friends yesterday at church. They were commenting that they had both had experiences in which they had prayed about things they were thinking of doing and the skids got greased and made them so very easy so they took that as God's will for them. Once they got into their projects, however, they found out many things they didn't know about and were very disappointed when things fell apart after thinking it was God smoothing the way for them to show them his approval.

I thought about it after our discussion and it occurred to me that this isn't normally the way that Jesus works but more the way Satan works. He makes it look sooo easy that we are just sure it is God's way so we jump right in thinking we have done the right thing by praying about it and waiting for the answer of the easy way in.

Now, if you really think about it and look at how God has done things in the past, He normally doesn't make it the easy decision but the one that will more than challenge us and our belief in Him. Think about every instance that God wanted one of his people to do something for Him. Does he make it easy or does He make it use a difficult way just to show how wonderful He is and how He can make things happen against what we would normally think.

Think of Joseph, son of Jacob, and how he was relegated to Egypt as a servant of the Pharoah. His life was anything but easy but it prepared him to be King when he returned. God was certainly in his life.

Think of Noah. He was a righteous man but was given a huge task of building the Ark Hardly the easy way but God showed himself through it.

Moses certainly didn't think he was the person to do what God had in mind for him. He tried to avoid it but God wouldn't let him get away and the task certainly was far from easy to achieve what God had in mind.

How about Jonah. What was easy about sailing to escape God's direction to go to Nineveh? What was easy about surviving the fishes mouth? Ultimately, he did exactly what God wanted him all along.

What about David nad his challenge to take on Goliath. That certainly wasn't the easy way but it did show how God can work.

The Disciples were certainly not exposed to the easy way. They all had their challenges before, during and after their time with Jesus. The only one that took the apparent easy way, Judas, is a perfect example of how badly things can go when we take what appears to be the easy way, for us.

I can't think of anyone that God chose in the Bible for a certain task that thought they were qualified or that really wanted to do what was asked of them. If it was easy, anyone could do it. If it is hard, that is when God's strength and mastery will show through such that none of those chosen by him can claim they were responsible but give up the glory to God the Father.

Certainly not last but foremost in our minds should be Jesus, himself. He wasn't given the easy way, hardly. He was given the most difficult task ever by his father. But it was for our benefit, not Jesus'. He had the hardest duty ever just because of His love for us and his Father.

I guess in all this we should just be careful what we do when faced with a major decision in life. If it seems like things have been smoothed out for us maybe we should be most careful of them. Don't look for the easy way, look for how he can use you for His glory, not yours.