Hard Opportunities of Power

It seems obvious. We don’t like hard times. We don’t want to suffer. When a storm of life is approaching, we don’t rejoice and jump into a boat. We want things to be nice and easy. We want to stay on the beach and lounge in the sun. We want a relaxed life with some fun added in.

It’s true, we try to avoid hard times like a plague. We do, however, want to see God’s power. We want to see Him do miracles. We want to see the Red Sea part. We want to be there when the five thousand are fed. We want to experience God’s miraculous power.

We want to see and experience God’s power and we don’t want hard times. This, I think, runs us into a problem. For God often gives us the hard times so that He can rescue us as He shows His power, provision and love.

I don’t know if we can see God’s power without the hard times. We can’t see Jesus calm the wind and the waves unless we get into the boat. We can’t dance with Jesus in the furnace without standing up to Nebuchadnezzar. We can’t see God’s provision unless we are in need.

We won’t see God’s power when we sit back passively, because we won’t have a need for Him to work. It is only when we take the first step of faith out of the boat and meet Him out on the water.

Hard times are not the absence of God’s love but the evidence of His love. For it is only in the storms of life that He can get up and show off His great power by calming the wind and the waves.

I don’t know about you, but that gives me more courage to get in the boat. I would hate to miss the ride.