Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve...

Joshua 24:15, NIV (1978)

I remember hearing a man reluctantly give and account of some very difficult times that he had been through. I say reluctantly because some of the things he had been through had not been pleasant and were somewhat difficult to recount. We can relate to this because we all have had some things happen in our own lives that we would just rather not talk about. I am so glad that this gentleman did in his case, because by doing so he helped me to understand a little more of what it takes to survive hard times.

I won't go through all of the details, but the quick story is that he had lost his wife of over 25 years to a very painful type of cancer. Some years later he lost his son and two grandsons in a terrible accident. The boat they were in capsized in a sudden storm. Though this man tried to rescue them, his efforts failed and he was barely able to escape the frigid waters himself. 

Having been through so much tragedy and seemingly so well at that, people had a lot of questions for him. How do you survive such heartache? Were you mad at God? How did you keep your faith? The man had a lot of time to think about these very things as he worked through his grief and his answer was something I have never forgotten. He said that there were somethings so difficult to get through in life that you had to handle them in advance. "In advance?", you might be questioning, "How can you handle the unknown in advance?" His explanation, I believe, is important to us all.

He revealed that he and his wife had decided to be faithful to God, many years earlier. They had determined that he most important thing to them was to be in Heaven someday, both they and their family. Though they could not have possibly known the depth of testing that would occur to their faith, they knew that unexpected things happen all the time in life. They also understood that some of life's surprises were hard - too hard to go through on a moment's notice, so they had decided, in advance, that they would serve the Lord no matter what. 

Would this type of determination help you? I know it has helped me because I have all too often been a "spur of the moment" kind of guy. In other words, I sometimes just kind of "react" to whatever situation may arise. This kind of attitude is fine for determining things like where you should eat tonight, or what kind of T-shirt should you wear today, but it is a lousy way to live when it comes to your service to God.

Think about it: If you have to decide if you will be faithful to God every time something hard happens in your life, you are not going to do very well. It is like the man who has to think about whether he will remain faithful to his wife every time a tempting woman comes along. This is a decision and commitment that should have been made before you get married, not after.

So, how about you? If somethings difficult happens will you remain faithful to God... or will you lose your faith? This is something you very likely have already made some time ago when you devoted your life to Christ. But, if you are really not so sure how you would handle a serious testing of your faith, you need to do some deep soul-searching. You may find that you never really committed to God in the first place. If that is the case, then now would be a good time to recommit your life to God, for some things can only be handled in advance.