Tag: patience

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The scripture for today, July 18, is Acts 7:18 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-Cover-KINDLE“Then another king, who knew nothing about Joseph, became ruler of Egypt.”

Does God really answer prayers? When the Jews first arrived in Egypt, they received “royal treatment” because they were relatives of “Prime Minister” Joseph. Then he died, but his relatives stayed. Eventually they were resented, then feared, then made slaves of the Egyptians.

For the following 400 years or so, the Jews prayed for God to release them from their slavery. Generation after generation died believing that God does not answer prayers.

But God saw the big picture. He saw that the 70 relatives of Joseph who originally went to Egypt would become over three million over the next four centuries. Then and only then would they be large enough to begin a new nation ~ the Jewish nation. In Egypt during those centuries, they were in a form of “protective custody”.

Are you frustrated and confused because God is seemingly not answering some very important prayers? Perhaps you are part of a bigger picture that God knows about. Perhaps your job is to stay where you are and just keep hanging on. Are you up to the task God has assigned to you?

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The scripture for today, July 16, is Genesis 7:16 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

0-BOOK 6-PROMISE KEEPER-Cover-Createspace

Does your life sometimes feel like a downpour of unending bad events or a flood of tragedies? Whenever that happens, why not just enter an ark of safety and let God shut the door? When God shuts the door on something, try to recognize it and take advantage of its peace and quiet.

Our ark of safety is in our mind, our heart, our soul. Our ark of safety is quietness in Jesus.

“My heart is not proud, O Lord….But I have stilled and quieted my soul” (Psalm 131:1f)

“In quietness and trust is your strength” (Isaiah 30:15b)

“The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever” (Isaiah 32:17).

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The scripture for July 13 is in Job 7:13ff in the Old Testament of the Bible:

0-BOOK 3-HEARTS AFIRE-COVER“When I think my bed will comfort me and my couch will ease my complaint, even then you frighten me with dreams and terrify me with visions, so that I prefer strangling and death, rather than this body of mine. I despise my life; I would not live forever. Let me alone; my days have no meaning.”

Job was extremely depressed. It happens to everyone sometimes. His depression was certainly valid ~ he had lost all his income and all his children in a recent storm. Now he had what the Bible translated as “boils” but the symptoms indicate he had a form of leprosy. This particular form leads to nightmares in addition to the physical problems. Job had every right to be depressed. So depressed was he, that he no longer wanted to live, for his life no longer had meaning.

But, as miserable as Job was, he hung on. Patiently he hung on during the bad times. Sometimes during our bad times, the greatest thing we can do is “hang on” ~ be patient.

Romans 8:28 says all things work together for good to those who love the Lord. Job loved the Lord. Even in his misery and desire to die, he continued to love God and trust Him.

And although at such times you may believe your misery will never end, you may believe you will never even smile again, it will happen. The misery comes to an end. It did for Job. He got his health and wealth back and more children to comfort him. God will see you through too.

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The scripture for today, July 8 (7/8), is Ecclesiastes 7:8 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

“The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride.”

Years ago there was a little boy who belonged to the Pee-Wee Baseball League.  A lot of teams played in different parts of a very large ball field.  He would get in line to wait his turn to bat the ball.  But he’d become impatient, feeling that he should be able to bat as often as he wanted.

So he’d take off across the field and get in the line of another team, hoping his turn at bat would come sooner.  When he didn’t go to bat as soon as he thought he should, he’d take off across the field in yet another direction and get in line of yet another team, hoping his turn at bat would come sooner.

After doing all that, he’d finally give up and come back to his own team.  By that time, if he had just stayed in line with his own team, he could have come up to bat 2 or 3 times.  His pride got in the way, his impatience got in the way, and he ended up losing all his turns.

What we hope and dream for may happen today, or a year from now, a decade from now. Let us learn to wait for our turn.

The scripture for today, June 11, is Job 6:11 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

“What strength do I have, that I should still hope?  What prospects that I should be patient?”

Many people use the expression, “patience of Job.”  But he had on-and-off patience, for he was very sick.  By descriptions he gave of himself ~ sores, rancid breath, low voice, partial blindness, skin turned hard and black, bloating, nightmares, extreme pain, unrecognized by his closest friends, some believe he had a grotesque form of elephantitis leprosy.

What did he need from his friends?  He surely didn’t get it, for they spent their time trying to prove that he had sinned and God was right to be punishing him.  His reply?  “I have heard many things like these; miserable comforters are you all!  Will your long-winded speeches never end?  What ails you that you keep on arguing?” (Job 16:2f).

So how do we comfort someone who feels utterly hopeless?  We certainly don’t put the blame on them, nor do we tell them it’s “all in your head’ or to “snap out of it”.  We can share times when we felt hopeless.  We can weep with them.  We can hold their hand.  We can sit with them in silence.  We can pray aloud for them.  (Some people have never heard their name mentioned in a prayer.)

And we need to let them talk.  Sometimes they will say things they don’t mean in the long run, but at that brief moment they do.  Or sometimes they need to talk through things they are unsure about.  They may even say contradictory things.

At one time Job said, “Surely, O God, you have worn me out; you have devastated my entire household… .God assails me and tears me in his anger and gnashes his teeth at me” (16:7f).  But another time he said, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth….I myself will see him with my own eyes ~ I and not another.  How my heart yearns within me” (19:25f)

If you have a very sick friend, let your heart yearn with them.

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The scripture for today, May 22 (5/22), is Galatians 5:22f as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  Against such things there is no law.”

There are some people in the world who call people who practice these traits “losers.”  They believe you have to stick up for yourself and get ahead of the pack or the world will trample you and pass you by.

They are a lot like drivers out on a highway who think they have to pass every car.  Once they do, there is usually a brief period when they are ahead of all the others.  But soon they catch up with another pack of cars, and begin all over again to pass every one.  And so it happens over and over endlessly.  They never relax, for they are never ahead of the others for very long.

Today, let us relax a little.  Let us exercise self-control.   There is no law against slowing down.  And in the process find peace.

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