The Hard Sayings of Jesus!
Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail.
They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3: 22-23.
I have walked with the Lord for 53 years and I know many of His sayings have been at times difficult to understand and hard for me to accept. These hard things must be embraced if I truly want to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. Even though His purposes and plans for me are difficult, I must never complain against them or even decide not to follow God any longer. (John 6:61,66).
Sometimes I must admit, Lord, that you’re saying and actions in my life bother me. But I must understand if I’m never disturbed, corrected or even disciplined by you, I probably would not trust you. I have praised you many times for the different miracles that you’ve done in my life. But they’re also times that you have refused to comfort me and told me to stop whining and get on with a job. Most of the time when you give me a hard saying I discover more about You and more about me. It is like a lightning storm illuminating a pitch-black night which suddenly reveals to me what I never knew was there.
Hard sayings are always dividers; they divide the true disciple from the fake, they divide truths from falsehoods, and they divide the right feelings from the wrong ones. A hard saying is a purifier that strips away all the crusty accumulations of sin and bad habits and leaves me clean.
Hard sayings are painful; and they hurt at times. But how much better is to have a hard saying from You who loves me indefinitely, than a smooth thing from Satan, only who wants to twist and destroy me. Lord, give me the sense to appreciate your love. Your hard things are like taking great strides to glory. I will never forget that your precepts for with them has given me life. (Psalms 119:93).