Morning Prayer Reflection: Do we move forward in faith?

Gideon said to him, “My Lord, if the LORD is with us,why has all this happened to us?Where are his wondrous deeds of which our fatherstold us when they said, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?’For now the LORD has abandoned usand has delivered us into the power of Midian.”The LORD turned to him and said, “Go with the strength you have and save Israel from the power of Midian. It is I who send you.” Judges 6:13-14

There is no denying these are tough times. Perhaps some of us carry the tune of Gideon in his despair: "Why have you abandoned us? If you are good, Lord, why are we in this mess?" Sometimes, the dark spiral of wallowing pulls us down into a place of helplessness and feeling powerless and abandoned. As people of faith, we know the promise of Christ to never leave us, and yet, in our humanity, Christ's presence with us isn't always what we think it should be. We can begin to think if God is with us, then we face no hardships, when the truth is, in this human life, hardship happens. With God's continual presence, we can bear those hardships with a little less sorrow. Perhaps if we are in the midst of trial, we are simply being asked to re-shape our minds in the likeness of Christ, and not humanity.

So many people, young and old alike, have been struggling in this economy. We do not downplay the serious problem that face us, but perhaps part of the problem is what we have grown accustomed to thinking is "normal" or "successful." Blessed Teresa of Calcutta is quoted as saying, "We are called upon not to be successful but to be faithful." In these tough times, are we trying too hard to be successful, to count on our own power? The Lord tells Gideon to go with the strength he has - what he is really saying is to go in the strength of God...go with what I have given you and do what I have sent you to do. In moments of helplessness, are we trying to dig ourselves out, or do we move forward in faith, relying on the strength and wisdom of God?