The Bible also promises attacks from the Devil and his cadre of demons. See Ephesians 6:12 and 1 Peter 5:8: Nor do we see in Scripture any of the saints being delivered from the ordeals of life. Consider Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 1:8-9: “For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life: But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:”
God does not call us to comfortable or easy lives. He promises us hatred and persecution from the world. See Matthew 10:22, 24:9, and John 15:18-19:
Why Do We Run from God?
The other apostles and those who came after them also led difficult lives that often-met painful ends. The prophets of the Old Testament likewise had difficult lives. Jesus’ own life was filled with hardships, ending in torture and death on the cross, and it is this life that ours are to resemble. God’s calling often baffles us; defying our sensibilities and understanding.
Consider that He called Jeremiah to preach to a people whom He knew would not listen. See Jeremiah 7:27: “Therefore thou shalt speak all these words unto them; but they will not hearken to thee: thou shalt also call unto them; but they will not answer thee.”
So, it is no wonder that we are tempted to abandon God’s call on our lives and go our own way: even less so when our fleshly desires are compounded by the pressures of the world’s constant call to self-determination. We long to have our cake, and eat it too, gaining eternal life without losing our lives. But this can never be for it is written in Matthew 16:25: “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.”
To lay down our lives involves sacrifices both great and small. Some sacrifices appear so small that we think them trivial and ignore them, others seem so great we dare not face them; either way we lose the path by losing faith. And here we encounter a second difficulty; God’s ways are not our ways, His are higher than ours according to Isaiah 55:8-9: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
So, we have God’s calling us to a difficult life of doing things that do not always make sense. The appeal of doing what makes sense to us promises to deliver an easier life. We run because it promises to satisfy our desire for ease, comfort, and prosperity. We run because it satisfies our reason. In this we are encouraged and supported by the selfish desires of the flesh, the pressure of the unregenerate world, and the temptations of the Devil. With this chorus of affirmation, it is easy to become convinced that we are on the right path and heading toward a good destination.
Yet, we have been provided with precepts and illustrations that contradict our optimistic appraisal, and show the promises of ease to be false and the reason to be flawed. Let us turn our attention to these examples from God’s word, and see what are the true consequences of leaving the straight and narrow way.
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