It's easy to be hard

Following God is never easy nor without its temptations to turn away from the straight and narrow path. I was reading about the prophet Balaam. When men came from king Balak asking him to come and curse the Israelites, he went to seek God’s direction. God told him, “No, do not go with them.” So he refused. Balak sent men of great importance to pressure Balaam to come. Knowing what God had said, Balaam still went to ask God about going with them. If you know the rest of the story, Balaam was almost killed by an angel and ended up listening to his donkey in order to get the message from God.

How many times do we stop to consider other things when we know that God has already spoken to us about. We know what we should do or where God wants us to go. Yet, we often seek the easier path. Jesus called it the broad road that leads to destruction. God does not promise easy. He promises to go with us on the road he has chosen for us. Our hearts and spirits know the way we are suppose to go, but our emotions and fleshly logic often call out to us for an easier, more ego driven way.

We are faced with a decision (Most of life is about making godly decisions). Am I really a follower of Jesus or am I follower of the world, the flesh and the devil? When asked that way the answer seems easy. When presented with a harder, God directed path or an easier emotional directed path, the choice gets very sticky.

Do I really believe that with God’s help I can handle whatever he leads me into? Do I really trust in the One who created me, gave me gifts and talents to assist me on this journey? The way is clear when we listen to his heart within us. We know the way. We can be free from the stress of hard choices. God does not always lead us down the easy way, but he ALWAYS leads us down the straight and narrow way that leads to life!