He who lightly promises is sure to keep but little faith; he who is continually thinking things easy is sure to find them difficult. Therefore the sage sees difficulty even in what seems easy, and so never has any difficulties.

~ Tao, Tao Te Ching (J. Legge tr)

Only a fool would walk into the challenges of life with the arrogance that only a superficial belief in God will suffice to help him on his way, when really it is the deeper faith that is necessary.  There are challenges everywhere in life, and even those things that would seem easy may turn out to be more difficult than they first appeared without the assistance of God.  But, the wise person has made an ardent vow of profound devotion to God and those difficulties will disappear and become easy.

These lines are the very end of the song and were originally worded as:

I can’t see how you’re leading me unless you’ve led me here
Where I’m lost enough to let myself be led
And so you’ve been here all along I guess
It’s just your way and you are just plain hard to get

I see these four lines as a depiction of someone realizing, perhaps for the first time, that the troubles of life may have been the journey that God had planned for him.  It is both humbling, but uplifting to learn that the whole time through all of those hardships that God was not making him suffer, but actually there to serve as the guide to lead him through.  The man was not able to understand what God had in store, or what His intentions were, or even that God was the one leading him.  He must have thought that God had abandoned him.  But, then he realized that would not happen, and as confusing it may seem, this was just God’s way.

The Baha’i Faith teaches us that we are not yet ready to comprehend many things in God’s kingdom.  As each generation passes we learn more, and throughout our development, different manifestations have come to explain more of it to us.  Jesus Christ was one of those manifestations and His message is that of God.  Baha’u’llah was the latest of those manifestations and His message is that of God.

I saw something more in these lines though… I love the idea that before we can be led, we must first be lost.  Many times in life, I felt that I was strong, capable, independent and needed no leadership from anyone—that I was a leader.   I believed that I knew who I was and where I was going in life—that I was the one responsible for my successes and even my failures.  Some hard times came, and I will not pretend that I always had faith—I doubted, I tested, I did things I am not proud of.  There was never one cathartic event in my life that made me think that I had hit bottom, or in which I became a new person, but believe me when I tell you I wandered for a long time… and still am wandering.

Not until I had lived enough of life and lost my direction to the point that I was ready to follow and not to lead all of the time did I find and accept the Baha’i Faith.  In other words, I had to lose myself enough to be led.

(Incidentally, this line comes from the same song as the line, “Only lashing at the one who loves me the most”, which I have already written about here.)

O Thou Whose tests are a healing medicine to such as are nigh unto Thee, Whose sword is the ardent desire of all them that love Thee, Whose dart is the dearest wish of those hearts that yearn after Thee, Whose decree is the sole hope of them that have recognized Thy truth! I implore Thee, by Thy divine sweetness and by the splendors of the glory of Thy face, to send down upon us from Thy retreats on high that which will enable us to draw nigh unto Thee. Set, then, our feet firm, O my God, in Thy Cause, and enlighten our hearts with the effulgence of Thy knowledge, and illumine our breasts with the brightness of Thy names.

~ Baha’u'llah, Baha’i Prayer

We all need healing in our lives—even when there is nothing specific to heal.  We all go through tests and difficulties.  God has a plan.  I, like many people, have been through some very difficult times in my life and questioned God’s wisdom for leading me through such hardships.  I wish I could repeat the old axiom that it all just made me stronger, but I’m still not so sure about that.  I do know that those hard times have me what I am today though.  They have influenced me and will continue to guide my thoughts and actions.  I would like to think that I am better because of them.  At this time, I pass through another difficult, and scary time in my own life, I say this pray and try to remember that God has sent this for me in order that I may become closer to Him.