I have been blessed to live a relatively calm and stable life upon this earth thus far. Of course, there have been some critical moments to come and go, but nothing that the Lord and I could not handle. With any crisis that has come my way, there has been the accompanying knowledge that there are others whose situation is far worse than my own. Life can present the following picture:
For long enough, life can go on rather smoothly. The sunny days far outnumber the dark and dreary ones. The road is pleasantly level. There is no effort beyond our power. There are no sorrows too great for us to bear. There are no agonizing struggles with evil. We can cope.
Then, all of a sudden things go wrong. Tragedy strikes the dearest on earth to us, and there comes a demand for an effort that we may well think is beyond us (Cf., 1 Corinthians 10:13). There comes an illness or a breakdown, which lays us low. The sun sets at midday and we find that life becomes nearly unbearable.
In that moment many turn to God, because, as Abraham Lincoln said, “there is no place else to go.” But it will make all the difference in that moment if a Christian has been faithful to Christ through the years. He does not turn to the Lord as a last resort. He is able to seek refuge, not as a stranger, but as a familiar friend. The more closely we walk with the Lord, the easier it is to call on him when things go wrong. He is never far away.
