While reading my daily bread this morning I was struck by three statements that struck me and made me stop and think. One of them is this: "I do not boast that God is on my side," wrote Abraham Lincoln. "I humbly pray that I am on God's side." Wow, what a powerful statement that is. That comes into play, with letting your Ego do the writing of your life.

The second statement that struck a chord was "God is on the side of those who are on His side - who know His heart and mind and do His will - not those who insist on convincing God and others that their way is right. Through the prophet Isaiah, the Lord indicated that He sides with the oppressed (Isa 58:6-7:10). For Christians, that means it is right to be on the side of those who are being wronged. This is also a powerful message. Our ego gets us to assume that when jumping into a situation that God will always be on our side, when in truth we need to make certain that we are on God's side. For it is God who writes your history, not you and your ego.

My third and final statement comes from the 2 Chronicles. In my NLT Bible it gives you a brief history of Asa, King Abijah' s son. I am just going to write the paragraph that this statement is in.

"God does not condone the idea that "the end justifies the means". He is just and perfect in all his ways. People, on the other hand, are far from perfect. That a bond can exist between a loving and merciful creator and his rebellious creation is as great a miracle as creation itself! As a king, Asa came very close to being good. He traveled a long way with God before getting off track. His sin was not so much deliberate disobedience as choosing the easy way rather than the right way."

The last sentence of that paragraph is what struck me and got me thinking how many times have I opted to choose the easier path rather than the right path. How many times have any of us chosen that route without even realizing it until it was too late? What is that sentence - The path to Hell is paved with Good Intentions. I think that fits beautifully here. Sometimes the path to our goals are not always straight but come with curves, mountains, storms, and crevices!! With God and choosing to do the right way, all the time, we can assure ourselves that we are on God's side.

So, what circumstances have you encountered where you chose the easy path and thought it was the right course, only to find out that it wasn't? Are you filled with regret or despair about it? I just thought this would be an interesting topic as I am sure we all have tried the easy way of getting things done.