Where was God when…the tough times came?
“The seeds that fell on rocky ground stand for those who hear the message and receive it gladly.” Luke 8:13a
Maybe that was you when you were younger. Believing in God and Jesus was easy if you grew up in Christian families or among Christian people. But for me I wanted to feel it, to know it for sure. So as a child, I responded to a lot of altar calls. The preacher would preach and then invite anyone who wanted to become a Christian to come forward, kneel at the altar, and pray a prayer to receive Jesus.
I responded at church camps and at church. I didn’t quit going up until I knew I had what I was looking for. My Dad says that I responded to so many altar calls that when our family would visit a church he and my mother would sit on each side of me. They didn’t want to stop me from responding but they wanted to slow me down. Finally one night at church when I was about 8 years old I went forward and that night I knew it was real for me. I was sure I was really a Christian.
Maybe you became a Christian as a child or teenager or earlier in your adult life. You received the seed, the message, the word of God, gladly. But the seed on rocky ground “does not sink deep into them; they believe only for a while but when the time of testing comes, they fall away.” (v. 13b) Many people receive God’s word positively but abandon it when it hits up against the difficulty, the testing of life.
Let’s be honest. All of us have had our faith tested. Jesus had his faith tested also. The Devil tested Jesus and the tough times of his life tested him. Jesus understands what we’ve gone through and what we’re going through now.
In speaking of Jesus, Hebrews 4:15 states “Our High Priest is not one who cannot feel sympathy for our weaknesses. On the contrary, we have a High Priest who was tempted in every way that we are, but did not sin.”
So let’s be clear about this, everyone experiences the rocky ground, the tough times of life.
“The seeds that fell on rocky ground stand for those who hear the message and receive it gladly.” Luke 8:13a
Maybe that was you when you were younger. Believing in God and Jesus was easy if you grew up in Christian families or among Christian people. But for me I wanted to feel it, to know it for sure. So as a child, I responded to a lot of altar calls. The preacher would preach and then invite anyone who wanted to become a Christian to come forward, kneel at the altar, and pray a prayer to receive Jesus.
I responded at church camps and at church. I didn’t quit going up until I knew I had what I was looking for. My Dad says that I responded to so many altar calls that when our family would visit a church he and my mother would sit on each side of me. They didn’t want to stop me from responding but they wanted to slow me down. Finally one night at church when I was about 8 years old I went forward and that night I knew it was real for me. I was sure I was really a Christian.
Maybe you became a Christian as a child or teenager or earlier in your adult life. You received the seed, the message, the word of God, gladly. But the seed on rocky ground “does not sink deep into them; they believe only for a while but when the time of testing comes, they fall away.” (v. 13b) Many people receive God’s word positively but abandon it when it hits up against the difficulty, the testing of life.
Let’s be honest. All of us have had our faith tested. Jesus had his faith tested also. The Devil tested Jesus and the tough times of his life tested him. Jesus understands what we’ve gone through and what we’re going through now.
In speaking of Jesus, Hebrews 4:15 states “Our High Priest is not one who cannot feel sympathy for our weaknesses. On the contrary, we have a High Priest who was tempted in every way that we are, but did not sin.”
So let’s be clear about this, everyone experiences the rocky ground, the tough times of life.
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