Some good friends of ours decided they would move from Burlington to the Charlotte area.  When it was time to begin the process, he applied for jobs in his field, got an interview, and got a job.  Then they put their house on the market and sold their house.  The whole process (apply, interview, job offer, sell house) took about a month.

I’m really happy for them.  And as we updated some of our other friends on their progress (we seemed to be the go-to people to ask), we got the same kind of feedback from several people: everything happened so fast for them, it’s obvious that God was at work.

If it’s quick & easy, then God must be behind it.

And if that’s true, I figure its companion must also be true: if it’s slow & painful, then God must not want it to happen.  We can dress it up in spiritual language (”God closed this door for a season” or whatever), or we can call it what it is.

We’re so lazy & selfish that unless God gives us something immediately and painlessly then we blame God for it not happening.

We tell God, “If you want this for us, then open the right doors.” And we sit & wait for an open door to be delivered to us. We have a bias toward lethargy & inaction, and we expect God to give us what we ask for in spite of our lack of effort.

Instead I want to tell God, “I’m going to run through a brick wall to get this, and if the wall doesn’t fall down then I’ll use a sledgehammer, and if it still doesn’t fall down I’ll use a bulldozer. And if you don’t want this for us, then make the wall keep standing.” I want a bias toward action & hard work.

God still decides if the wall stands or falls, but it’s a lot more honest & biblical to put forth the time and effort instead of expecting God to do all the heavy lifting for us.

It’s following in the footsteps of Joseph, who had a vision of being powerful in Egypt and kept working at it through slavery, false accusation, and years of prison.

It’s following in the footsteps of Moses, who had a vision of freeing God’s people from Egypt and waited 40 years in the desert, then kept bringing plagues until Pharoah relented.

It’s following in the footsteps of everyone everywhere who’s done anything of significance, and this selfish & lazy attitude is at the root of so many of our problems in schools, in homes, in churches, and elsewhere.

Our friends are closing on the sale of their house as I type this, and I’m really happy for their speedy success and even happier that they don’t confuse ease & speed with God’s blessing, but that God works as often through difficulty and failure.