God's way not so easy

So I'm reading the bible readings this morning. Gleaned insight, was left with...but how to I write what I'm thinking about any of this?

Came up with nothing.

As I've thought over the morning, and have a bit of time now (waiting for Justin to settle for his nap), I've been thinking how all that passages I read this morning allude to how doing things God's way isn't always so easy.

For instance Joshua 5 speaks of how the Israelite needed to be circumcised.

2At that time the LORD said to Joshua, "Make flint knives and circumcise the sons of Israel a second time." 3So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the sons of Israel at Gibeath-haaraloth. 4And this is the reason why Joshua circumcised them: all the males of the people who came out of Egypt, all the men of war, had died in the wilderness on the way after they had come out of Egypt. 5Though all the people who came out had been circumcised, yet all the people who were born on the way in the wilderness after they had come out of Egypt had not been circumcised. 6For the people of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, until all the nation, the men of war who came out of Egypt, perished, because they did not obey the voice of the LORD; the LORD swore to them that he would not let them see the land that the LORD had sworn to their fathers to give to us, a land flowing with milk and honey. 7So it was their children, whom he raised up in their place, that Joshua circumcised. For they were uncircumcised, because they had not been circumcised on the way.

Not exactly a pain free way of obeying God and heeding his will. It laid them up for while.

Then in The Psalms we learn how hard it was for David that God did not have his own place.

1Remember, O LORD, in David's favor,
all the hardships he endured,
2how he swore to the LORD
and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob,
3"I will not enter my house
or get into my bed,
4I will not give sleep to my eyes
or slumber to my eyelids,
5until I find a place for the LORD,
a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob."

In Isaiah 65 we learn what happens to people who don't follow after God. Especially those who have turned from him.

6Behold, it is written before me:
"I will not keep silent, but I will repay;
I will indeed repay into their bosom
7both your iniquities and your fathers' iniquities together,
says the LORD;
because they made offerings on the mountains
and insulted me on the hills,
I will measure into their bosom
payment for their former deeds."

But it is in Matthew 13 that we really see that God's way is not so easy. Sometimes finding it is a feat in and of itself. Jesus taught in Parables. It's one of the things that he is known for. His disciples asked why?

10Then the disciples came and said to him, "Why do you speak to them in parables?" 11And he answered them, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 13This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says:

"'You will indeed hear but never understand,
and you will indeed see but never perceive.
15For this people's heart has grown dull,
and with their ears they can barely hear,
and their eyes they have closed,
lest they should see with their eyes
and hear with their ears
and understand with their heart
and turn, and I would heal them.'

But Jesus told the people what they needed to hear. He did reveal all to them.

34All these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable. 35This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet:

"I will open my mouth in parables;
I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world."

And to those of us who do understand, he will say ....

16But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. 17Truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

If we take the time to hear and to understand, and to ask God to help us, we will "get it". God will make his way clear to us. It's as simple as that.