“Most assuredly, I say to you<\/em> [Peter], when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish.” This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, ‘Follow Me’<\/em>” (John 21:18,19).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
My difficult days have come (Ecclesiastes 12:1). Easy things are now hard. Pleasant things are now fraught with pain. But for what shall I pray? If I pray for the removal of the pain or alleviation of the difficulty, the Lord’s answer may well be, “I will not make your work easy; I will make it doable. My grace is sufficient for you.”<\/p>\n
When the Lord indicated that Peter would die by crucifixion, John commented, “This He spoke, signifying by what death<\/em> [Peter] would glorify God.<\/em>” It may be so with us. When we pray for ease, the Lord may say, “No, it will be by difficulty that you will glorify Me.”<\/p>\n
Not all our difficulties are the consequence of sin or irresponsibility in our lives, but many of them are. And when the Lord says, “The sword will not depart from your house<\/em>” (II Samuel 12:10), prayers for the removal of consequences put in place by the Lord will not likely be granted. What the Lord will do is make the sword bearable.<\/p>\n
We often hear that the Lord will not put on us more than we can bear. But ease is often harder to bear than difficulty. Does the Lord know that we couldn’t handle much ease without being destroyed by it? If so, He won’t bring us much ease. He will spare us that and bless us instead with difficulty, which from a spiritual standpoint is more helpful (II Corinthians 12:9,10). We would do well to start praying less for ease and more for God to be glorified in our hardships.<\/p>\n
Speaking of II Corinthians 12:9,10, the Lord’s statement that “My strength is made perfect in weakness<\/em>” is, I believe, one of the hardest of the Lord’s hard sayings. Paul’s confidence that “when I am weak, then I am strong<\/em>” is, I confess, beyond my present state of spiritual maturity. But by the Lord’s help, I’ve made a little progress lately.<\/p>\n
So, I say again, my difficult days have come. But for what shall I pray? That the difficult days will not be difficult? No. I confess I’ve often prayed like that, but I hope I can learn to pray greater prayers.<\/p>\n
Father, hear the prayer we offer:
\nNot for ease that prayer shall be,
\nBut for strength that we may ever
\nLive our lives courageously.
\n(Love Maria Willis)<\/blockquote>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"by Gary Henry via Wordspoint.com “Most assuredly, I say to you [Peter], when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish.” This He spoke, signifying by what death…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[885,182],"class_list":["post-93824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-illness","tag-suffering"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3962,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-jesus-know-he-would-die-by-crucifixion-in-advance\/","url_meta":{"origin":93824,"position":0},"title":"Did Jesus know he would die by crucifixion in advance?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 3, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Did Jesus know he would die by crucifixion in advance? Answer: Yes, he did know. He spoke of being \"lifted up\" which was an allusion to crucifixion where a person is lifted up on a cross. \"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28406,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/im-all-petered-out\/","url_meta":{"origin":93824,"position":1},"title":"I\u2019m All Petered Out","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 9, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jefferson David Tant The sun was sinking, and the day's work was done. The farmer shut off his tractor, walked to the house, and into the kitchen where his wife had his coffee waiting for him. As he sat, he wiped the sweat off his brow and said, \"I'm\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/tired-300x256.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":88489,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-a-loved-one-is-making-a-terrible-mistake\/","url_meta":{"origin":93824,"position":2},"title":"When a Loved One Is Making a Terrible Mistake","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 8, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Heath Rogers What are we to do when a loved one is making a terrible mistake? We often feel helpless as we must stand on the sidelines and watch the approaching disaster unfold before our eyes. Is there anything we can do? Does the Bible offer guidance in such\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21016,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/restoration\/","url_meta":{"origin":93824,"position":3},"title":"Restoration","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 20, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Wayne Fancher I. 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