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"Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.
Even so, I will defend my own ways before Him."
(Job 13:15)
Most people are familiar with the biblical character Job. He was a good man that Satan came after to tempt him to turn away from God. God allowed the devil to do whatever he planned, except he could not take Job's life. Job did not know about this agreement between the Lord who loved him and the enemy of his soul who hated him. There were some incredibly trying times for Job; however, he did remarkably well. No matter what happened to him, he would trust God.
There's little chance that you and I will go through all Job had to endure. But we will indeed walk through some extremely hard times where we will have the choice to either be patient and wait on the Lord or get impatient, become angry with God, and seek to take control of the situation in our own strength. Have you noticed that doing the latter never works out well?!
The mission to Asia that I wrote about yesterday was at times very difficult. I was left with no other option but to wait on God to do what only He could. And you know what? He did. He loves us, and Romans 8:28 is still in the Bible. Do you feel that perhaps you are a slow learner when it comes to being patient, and that's why God keeps allowing things to test you? I get it. I'm slow to learn this special Christian grace, and the Lord keeps working on me to conform me more and more into the image of His Son Jesus (Romans 8:29).
You can tell a lot about our character when we do not get our way. Yes, it always seems to come back to pride. In moments of weakness, I get very impatient, think far too highly of myself, and my only concerns are my pleasures and objectives. When God brings or allows hard times, times of testing, then we will know how patient we really are.
To grow in this fruit of the Spirit called longsuffering or patience, we should hold all things loosely. We need to be people of planning and preparation; however, far too often, we get all out of whack because something changed, and then we are left to do the most dreaded thing: wait.
This children's song states it well: "He's still working on me to make me what I need to be. It took Him just a week to make the moon and stars, the sun and the earth, and Jupiter and Mars. Oh, how patient He must be. He's still working on me."
Most followers of Jesus could grow in this spiritual fruit and discipline called patience. You pray for me, and I will pray for you!
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