In psychology character is what you do based on who you are. Or, more precisely, it is what you do based on the story you tell yourself about who you are, and that story is one that is formed over time, based on the experiences you’ve had.That is why it makes me cringe when I hear someone pray, “Lord, give me patience”. What’s going to happen? Is God just going to pry open the person’s skull and pour it in? No. God is going to bring all kinds of frustrating and challenging circumstances into that person’s life so that over a bit of time, that person can learn to be patient. Of course, patience is not an isolated character trait, because one cannot be patient without also learning to become more trusting. That is, a person has to believe that if he or she waits, “it” will be okay.When we ask God to give us something that essentially pertains to our character, it requires effort to receive it, and it likely will also involve other things that need attention. It’s not like Christmas. In families children often ask their parents for toys. They see something on TV or in the store, or they see it at a friend’s house, and they start asking their parents for it. So, the parent knows what the child wants, the parent goes out and gets it, wraps it up, and there it sits under the tree. All the child has to do is grab it and unwrap it. No big deal.Oh sure. There is certainly the truth that in one way unless God provides, we just will not have. In one way, God does pour out His blessings on us. But my point is to be careful what you ask for. When we come to the Lord to be begin with we are told to “count the cost” of discipleship. It is not just a fun ride, just a “natural” high. No. It is a call to self-sacrifice, service, and the constant testing of faith. There is no other kind of life like it, but it is not for those who have not taken root in Christ. Like one of His disciples confessed, “Where else could we go, Lord, You have the words of life”. Indeed, there is joy and peace and even ecstasy in the life God gives that is connected to a relationship with His Son, but although it is freely given, it does cost something. You have to be willing to be trained, and that training is tough.So, asking God for character traits is a BIG deal. You have to know that hard work, sorrow, and pain — suffering — is part of the granting of your prayer. You don’t just walk into church one Sunday, get caught up in the loud music and the shouting, ask God to make you more loving, and walk out having received and accomplished that transformation. No. God hears, and He may be granting that request, but if so, you walk out of the service that day somewhat doomed to circumstances you can bank on coming that will stretch you and make you more loving.Having said this, I am reminded of all the prayer that has gone into this island. People have been asking God for revival, for change, that God would hear the prayers of His people and heal this nation. Perhaps you have not thought it needed healing as such, but a lot of people have. So, the prayers have gone up, and what do you think is coming down if those prayers are to be answered?I think we are seeing it.We are seeing difficult times, and the difficulty, even the complexity of the difficulties, is what has the potential to change the character of a nation. God was never going to just open the lid of the country and pour into it a new character. It doesn’t work like that for individuals, and it doesn’t work that way for families, and it doesn’t work that way for organisations, neighbourhoods, or countries.We are seeing financial trouble as the recession is taking a toll, and debt increases, services are stretched, ageing, and beginning to fall apart without enough money to correct the decline. Businesses are closing. Large corporations are downsizing and/or moving somewhere else. The island may have to find a new source of economic growth.We are seeing a growing and serious anger in response to gang violence, the kind of societal rage captured in the sentiment that all the gangs should simply be rounded up and eliminated. However, nothing so outrageous would ever actually be done, and if it were, it would only create more anger, because every gang member is someone’s child. Meanwhile, however, the prison population is growing ever more volatile as more and more gang-affiliated people reside there, and the overall situation is getting worse.We are seeing more and more people who have not, who live on the streets, and who need social services, but there are either no programmes for them or what there is overstretched. People used to be able to work two or three jobs to make ends meet, but that is not as possible as it once was.Political gamesmanship is not the answer; it just contributes to the problem. As in the US, where the two-party system is in stalemate and the country in decline, the kind of national character growth that is needed comes because the quick fix of changing which party is in power is set aside in order for people of both stripes to work together. The politics of “us” and “them”, black and white, old and new, is not part of the solution. It is part of the problem.If you look around at what is going on, and you remember your prayers for national revival, national change and character growth, then today is a good day. It may be seen in some coming retrospect that these were the days in which God granted those prayers. These were the days in which the trouble became more than the people could stand. These were the days in which something had to give.