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Glory Seed Devotionals, 2015: Year of Promise
Patience isn't moral excellence. Patience is a gift from God…
Does the following scripture sound like a script out of the story of your life? “Some wandered in desert wastes, finding no way to an inhabited town; hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted within them.” (Psalm 107:4–5, NRSV) You've found yourself wandering aimlessly in a desert do to a self-inflected or imposed adversity alone, hungering, and thirsting for relief. Or perhaps is it a script being lived out as you read these words? It doesn't have to be a “category 10” adversity because even a small one can rock your world.
If that is the script being written in your life right now then I have some timely advice. Don't give up but do give in! Give in like so many others have done when they found themselves there... “Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress; he led them by a straight way, until they reached an inhabited town.” (Psalm 107:6–7, NRSV)
One of the difficulties I encounter when I experience adversity in my life whether it is self-inflicted or otherwise is whose hand is writing the part where it becomes history my hand or God's hand. There are some situations I can work out for myself for instance if I am driving my car and happen to come upon a red light I don't need God to help me put on the brakes. However, when facing life changing adversities such as heart surgery I need God to hand write himself into how the story turns out.
A number of years ago a co-worker and close friend told me the story of her husband's struggle with drugs and alcohol and how it wasn't resolved until he asked God to “write the script.” And then once God got involved in his story like me he then needed to reconcile himself to the fact that God writes at his own pace not ours. On the priority list of needs for everyone very near the top is patience because for some reason patience is running at an all time low.
“Finally, be strong (and patient) in the Lord and in the strength of his power.” (Ephesians 6:10, NRSV, words in parenthesis added)
Believe! Anticipate! Experience! Be transformed!
Grace and PEACE, Amen!
Gary
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“For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.” (2 Timothy 1:7, NLT)
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“The Scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission. All rights reserved.”
“Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.”
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