{"id":21772,"date":"2017-11-26T00:05:52","date_gmt":"2017-11-26T08:05:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/?p=21772"},"modified":"2017-11-20T12:15:03","modified_gmt":"2017-11-20T20:15:03","slug":"november-26-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/2017\/11\/26\/november-26-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"November 26, 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cI waited patiently for the Lord.\u00a0 He turned to me and heard my cry.\u201d\u00a0<\/i>Psalm 40:1 NIV<\/p>\n

The Provision of Patience<\/b><\/h2>\n

Recently I read a friend\u2019s Facebook post that said, \u201cHave patience and wait for the thing you want most.\u00a0 Don\u2019t chase it. Don\u2019t run after it. If God wants you to have it,\u00a0He will give it to you.”<\/p>\n

The post got me to thinking that Scripture definitely affirms and supports these words. In Psalm 40, David attests to the enduring value of waiting in submission for God to act.\u00a0If anyone was forced to learn patience, it was David!\u00a0He spent years waiting.\u00a0From the time Samuel first anointed him until the time he actually became king over Judah, approximately fifteen years passed.\u00a0Then an additional seven years elapsed before he was anointed king over all of Israel.<\/p>\n

So often, in our flesh we just want what we want, and we want it NOW!\u00a0We yearn to take things into our own hands (into our CONTROL) and manage it our own way. But there is truly a better and higher way. It is to take our tightly held desire before the Lord, to open our hands, and to release that cherished hope into His SOVEREIGN care.<\/p>\n

God reassures us through His Words in Isaiah 55:8-9: \u201cFor my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts then your thoughts.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

A close friend shared with me an example of the payoff of patience.\u00a0She lives within view of the ocean, but her view was blocked by her neighbor\u2019s stark, half-dead tree.\u00a0Being acquainted with the neighbor, she politely offered to pay for felling the offensive tree, but the answer was \u201cno.\u201d\u00a0Several years passed and she confided that she sometimes imagined herself going, under the cover of darkness, and pouring poison on the tree, but she restrained herself, knowing that would certainly displease God.\u00a0Eventually the neighbor passed away and new people bought the house.\u00a0When they met my friend, one of their first conversations was about their plan to remove the repugnant tree.\u00a0Hallelujah for her!\u00a0Patience brought the right result in the right way.<\/p>\n

There are real blessings and benefits to be gained when we wait for God:<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 God uses our wait-time to refine our character.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0 Our wait-time reveals our trust in God.\u00a0We should never want to get ahead of or outside of His good plan for us.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0 Waiting produces humility in us that concedes God is big\u00a0and we are small.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0 We learn that delayed answers are not necessarily denied\u00a0answers.\u00a0Our perception is finite but God\u2019s is infinite.<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0 As we wait, God can form within us a peaceful soul, even while storms swirl around us, if we depend on His reliable goodness and faithfulness.<\/p>\n

6.\u00a0 Finally, as we wait, God would always have us do the next RIGHT thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cDear Father, just as David waited long to be king, patient waiting drew him ever closer to You. When we shelter under Your wings, reveal to our hearts that the real treasure may not be what we await, but our patient waiting with You. Amen.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>

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