Are You Kidding Me?

"Despise not the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him." Hebrews 12:5
 
"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 1Thessalonians 5 16-18

Are you kidding me, who can do that stuff? I'm not all that fond of punishment or discipline, and I'm certainly not grateful for everything going on in my life. The thing is, I can't do that stuff, and the Lord knew that when He gave me those directions. He knew ahead of time that I was simply not capable of following those instructions, and to make matters worse He went and filled up the Bible with all kinds of stuff like that.

Fortunately He also filled the Bible with all kinds of examples on how to accomplish the impossible. Moses facing down the Pharaoh, David whipping Goliath, Daniel safe in the Lion's Den, Ruth saving the Jews from extermination. Over and over again, simple men and women are assigned impossible tasks, and then God provides the power necessary to accomplish them.

I know that the Lord did not need Moses to defeat the Pharaoh, but I did. When life seems impossible, when the difficulties facing me have broken my spirit and I despair of ever vanquishing my foes, I can think of those men and women in scripture who, when faced with overwhelming odds, simply said, "Lord , Help me." and rose triumphant over their woes.