Psalm 1 – 1 Reason for Hard Times

As I was reading this morning in Psalm 1, I was vividly reminded of a reason for hard times. I have to admit that I like good times. I like when I don't have to watch my checkbook as closely because I know that there is ample money to spend. I love it when my kids all listen and I don't have to discipline them for disobedience. I love to "fall back" and gain an extra hour of sleep instead of "spring forward" and lose one. I love it when my whole family is healthy and the doctor has not been visited for months. On that note, I love it when my medical deductable has been met so that I don't have to pay nearly as much for doctor's visits. In short, I love it when life is going the way that I want it and expect it to go. I love it when life is easy…the waters are calm, the sun is high up in the sky, it's about 85 degrees out and I am on my 4^th coconut.

By contrast…I don't really care for the hard times of life. I don't really enjoy having to share my bedroom an infant who could care less if I have a full day of counseling ahead of me. I absolutely hate it when my kids get sick and I can't do anything about it other than listen real closely at night to make sure that they are still breathing. I would rather have to do something else than find out that a close friend has died or something else tragic like that. I hate it when I hop online to check out how much money I have left and realize that I was way off in my "mental" math. In short, I hate the hard times of life. I don't like the cold rainy blustery days that are unpredictable.

But…there is an ironic twist about the days that I love and the days that I hate. The good days, while fun and enjoyable, are really wasted days in my life when it comes to eternity. I am forced to deal with absolutely nothing on those good days. Life can continue on as normal in those good days. I am not drawn one step closer to the God I claim to love as long as life is peachy. I am always tempted on these days to be satisfied with what I know about Him and how far I have come in my walk with Him. And to be honest…there are more days that I care to admit where I give in to that temptation. That's extremely sad considering those good days are a gift from Him that I just take for granted. On the other hand, the bad days are the best days for my walk with the Lord in this life. The worse the day…the closer I draw to Him. The harder the rain, the more shelter I need. The higher the wave, the faster and bigger the rescue.

As I was reading through Psalm 1 again, I got to the verse that talks about the wicked being blown away like the chaff. The righteous on the other hand are like a tree that is firmly planted by streams of water which yield its' fruit in its season. It's funny because this does not mean that life is always sunny for the righteous and things always go well for the righteous. No, the same circumstances come at the righteous that come at the wicked. Righteous people have lost millions in the stock market just as the wicked have. Righteous people have lost their homes due to the housing crisis just as the wicked have. The storms of life rage and not selective as to whom they mess with. The difference however is in what happens to the righteous and the wicked. The righteous produce fruit in those hard times…the wicked perish. The righteous bring honor and glory to God…the wicked have lost all purpose. The righteous have every reason to put one foot in front of the other…the wicked have every reason to give up and float away. The righteous are made stronger in the storms…while the wicked are destroyed.

Give a logical biblical look at the way good works and I am thankful for the storms in my life, not because I enjoy them in the moment, but because of what they produce. Man I hope I remember this when I am going through the storm.