Not Asking God’s Help in Rough and Desperate Times

Getting through the rough and desperate times in life supposedly should be less difficult if we only invoke God’s loving grace and intervention. The hard part is in our hearts because we habitually mistrust that kindness, generosity and greatness. Our lack of faith keep us from asking. Moreover, our impatience to let Him work things out in His own time makes us resort to do things our own way. We often trivialize God’s capability.

We’ve all been too accustomed to getting things done on our own that we have gotten so much belief in ourselves. We own up our successes and achievements, small or big, because we seldom sought divine help beforehand. That feeling of grandiosity makes us think that we know better and can do things without Him. As long as things go smoothly we seem all fine with that.

However, on instances when things just don’t work out the way we want, we are left with options that may likewise not reap results. It’s in those situations that we start to panic and get frustrated with our own failures. In the worst case, we tend to submit ourselves to do desperate measures that may not be in the best interest of our morality. We tend to unnecessarily sacrifice too much of the good for the sake of getting through it all. At times, we feel left out in the dark world of depression, doubt and hopelessness. To the point, we feel as if it’s the end of the world. Sadly, some choose the wrong way to end everything once and for all, most especially if the situation is too stressful to handle.

Yet still, some manage to surrender to Divine Help as a last resort. Undoubtedly, it is the better choice. Putting to work the little faith and belief left in us helps greatly in times of desperate need. God answers in so many ways. In the end, we can only marvel at how He does things unexpectedly and in many simple ways that we don’t notice deliverance is already in the works. At the end of the day, we shamefully realize and acknowledge that “with God, nothing is impossible”. We think we would never have been battered more in the ferocious waves had we put that faith to work at the first hint of trouble. Though He sometimes tests us on troubled waters, we would’ve remained calm and still, had we known that He is God.

That said, there is good reason for us to ask God's loving intervention any moment in our lives regardless of how urgent or how trivial the issue at hand will be. As long as it is not against His will, He will always find the right way and the right timing to satisfy us. His ways are divine and oftentimes we don’t understand how He does things. He only needs us to trust and surrender everything to Him. As He says, "For the yoke I will give you is easy, and my burden is light. Come to me, and I will give you rest".

Making the Most of Boredom and Idleness

We are all too familiar with situations when boredom strikes. We’ve all been there: long distance commuting, flying to another city, or being trapped in the middle of heavy traffic, etc. Many of us today usually turn to our electronic gadgets for diversion or any other form of preoccupation.

However, for any reason we can also literally get caught anytime in any of the same scenarios above but without any help otherwise. In that case, we become helpless with boredom until things turn around favorably later. We forget to consider how much time would have been idly wasted.

Fortunately, we can still make good use of that idleness. We can make it meaningful by praying for whatever intentions we have. We can either pray for forgiveness, thanksgiving, praise, intercession or graciously for personal intentions. We always have the option to do that and it makes more sense than just wait lazily.

Attaining any of our intention by making use of our belief in prayers is productive in a spiritual sense, especially in the least likely situation. It’s better than setting aside prayer time to certain schedules, which we oftentimes fail to fulfill. It is one worthwhile time filler because we never know some things heavenly may already be at work as a result of that prayerful respite.

Frustrated with Bible Reading

I used to be frustrated with reading the Bible, and several attempts at sticking to the practice all but failed in the past. I wanted to gain some understanding. I followed the soundest advices from the Bible Seminar I attended some years ago. That is, pray to the Holy Spirit for guidance and spend silent moments to “listen to God” after reading. For some reasons those simply failed to serve the purpose. Maybe, there’s something wrong with me or anything for that matter. I don't know.

Then one day, I just prayed honestly and said that I would leave everything up to Him, not compelling myself to interpret the Bible as I read every time. Though, I still prayed beforehand, I just proceeded reading anyway. That change of approach gave me the same result as in the past but I didn’t mind, stayed relax, continued reading as much, and enjoyed the stories like any child reading a fantasy book.

During the course of those times I was surprised that I spontaneously gained some insights. Oftentimes, specks of understanding and enlightenment just popped in mind out of nowhere. It was during those times that a thought suddenly came to me that the Apostles of Jesus were once dumbfounded by his deeds and teachings even though they were often fully ignorant of the deeper meanings. They just kept on following him, continued to listen, though, at times being chided by Jesus for their failure to grasp the true meanings. It was only in God’s time (The Pentecost) that, un-scholarly as they were, they received full understanding and wisdom of the word.

We all may gain that understanding in God’s unexpected ways and timing. It may come in any same or different form as He sees fit. Gradually, that understanding will find root in our thinking and spirituality. It will manifest and affect us in the way we live and deal with the challenges of our own lives. Faith, perseverance and humility are what we need. Learning from the Bible is a life-long process.

My Best Revenge

I once took a taxi ride from the Ninoy Aquino Domestic Airport (Manila, Philippines) to my destination in Antipolo to spend my Christmas break with siblings and family. I was getting unfamiliar with the routes to my destination because it was a long time ago since I last left Manila.

As with the usual modus of some cheating taxi drivers I was taken to a wrong way when we got into Antipolo and, obviously, he was pretending to have a hard time locating my specific destination. We had some stops and me asking passersby about the address until we finally get to the place. The meter reading registered a whopping Php900.00 in total cost! I had no other choice but to pay the amount because I couldn't argue with a skilled Tagalog dialect (I am Cebuano). Besides, the travel did take long. However, being unfamiliar with the roads isn't my fault and shouldn't be any reason to dupe me. I was upset but could do nothing.

Later that day, I wanted to report the driver to authorities with the taxi complaint ticket I was handed at the airport. But then, doing so would have me go back the distance plus the hassles of traffic and cost of travel. The process would take away some of my valuable vacation time and it would have spoiled my stay. Nevertheless, I still wanted revenge.

I figured out the best revenge I could do and that was to pray instead. To be honest with God, I poured my sentiments through prayers, though, in a humble way. I said that, being human it was natural for me to think of revenge but with God knowing I should not take matters into my own hands. Instead, I asked If He could discipline that driver so that he would learn his lesson the hard way and realize how unfair he was. He needed to mend his ways. I added that I was not only praying for myself but also for other people who may also fall victims of his folly. That way, perhaps he could become a better person. I prayed that for a few days and even at random times until I was totally weaned from anger.

I channeled those anger and revenge in a positive and noble way for God to take into His hands. I felt justified with it and felt no regret with my supposed revenge. I was rewarded with a clean conscience knowing that God does things in His loving and divine ways. I was able to move on with a belief that my experience and revenge may spare other poor would-be passengers and perhaps help get one lost sheep back to God.

Technology to Help us Connect to God

As you read this post one thing is for sure, you are not reading it in paper prints thanks to today’s technology. Today’s tech gadgets that can access the net can connect users around the world within seconds. We know too well that technology significantly affords us almost limitless possibilities to make our lives much more comfortable than what it already is. That, as our earthly life is concerned.

The bigger question is, do we have the technology to connect to God like we do to friends? The simple answer is yes. We need not look far. It’s here and everywhere in the tech world. Our creativity dictates how we use these gadgets to help us get closer to Him and rekindle that relationship.

Whatever you’re using to read this post can very well be the start of using it to connect to God. If you’re reading this on your mobile phone you can use its built in alarm to remind you at certain times of day to dedicate regular short prayers. If you’re using your windows pc to access this post you can use your Windows 7 Task Scheduler to set a schedule to pray either at the office during work or at home when you’re using the PC. You can set it to display a message on the screen to remind you of say, The 3 o’clock prayer. Other gadgets may have apps you can also utilize in similar manners. As mentioned, it all depends on your creativity.

Now, we have a few less reasons to excuse ourselves from our distance from God. Besides, a few alarms and short prayers do not add a single cent to our network bills as against a few minutes of nonsense chitchat using the network services. It’s just a matter of simple usage of technology available to us, to use it to connect to God for free. This is supposed to be the upside and the best use we have for the current technology. Use those gadgets, to help pray for others to save their souls or at least just help your own. That is technology at its best and most meaningful way of usage.

The image beside is a screenshot of my sample Windows 7 Task Scheduler reminder which I coded to mean " Bible Reading and Holy Spirit Devotion " at a certain time during work days.

Our Obstacle to God’s Mercy

Even as persons who strive to live a prayerful life many of us are still unworthy to be exemplified true Christians. We oftentimes forget the fact that we have always been virtuously imperfect since birth. That’s why, in our day to day struggle to live a righteous life we always end up frustrated with our own perceived failed efforts to be pleasing in the eyes of God.

Such frustration could get us discouraged and make us become perceptibly helpless from our own sinfulness. As a result, we tend to stop trying instead of continuously pursuing to seek God’s grace. But the truth is that this chain of events actually stem from of our lack of faith in God’s goodness.

Let us base our random human ability to show mercy and compare with that of God’s. In other words, if we can show mercy towards anybody how much more can God? Because He is the Creator He is understandably the source of everything that is good in us starting from our infant virtues. Therefore, If He is the source He has the abundance and flawless goodness in Him, and that includes His infinite mercy towards His most valued creation - us.

We will have a hard time receiving that grace unless we take the effort to heed his call and invitation. We cannot initiate action unless we truly believe that God is very much capable of that grand generosity. We need to overcome that obstacle of unbelief.

This realization should draw us closer to Him knowing that He is constantly inviting us all to come back to the fold of His loving arms. For us Catholics we are all called to answer to His call of repentance and reconciliation through the blessed sacraments solemnly carried out by the ministers of His church. It all starts from trusting in His infinite goodness as a whole.