Wait patiently.

Learning patience is not easy. Yet, the Lord calls for us to cultivate this virtue. The world in which we live encourages impatience because in our bid for survival we are constantly rushing and there is not much time for waiting. Waiting patiently is certainly not the thing to do in this fast paced world. It is much more natural for us to hurry...hurrry...hurry.  We hurry through devotions. We hurry to work. We hurry to our doctor's appointment. We hurry to the supermarket and waiting in line is an awful bother.

Why does the Lord ask us to exercise patience? Could there be any important spiritual reasons for waiting? Think about it.  Firstly, waiting can refocus our attention away from things and back to God Himself.  There are so many times when our attention is riveted on the material things that we need rather than on God, the giver of all good gifts. In waiting on the needed article we are given the opportunity to rechannel our thoughts and to really focus on God rather than on the gift.

Secondly, waiting allows us to develop a clearer picture of our own motives and desires. As we wait we are given time to do some introspection. Do I really need this article or do I desire it just to keep up with my neighbours? Will I use this item to glorify Jesus or is it a means of self glorification? In this way waiting can be really beneficial to us.

Waiting also develops spiritual strengths such as perseverance, faith and trust. We learn to hold on to God's unchanging hands determining never to give up. We are able to trust that He will do what is best for us when it is best for us. We learn to live by faith since we may never know the reason why we have to wait.


Finally, my friends, waiting allows God to fill in the blank spaces. He completes the puzzle by putting down the other pieces of the bigger picture. Many times we wait with some degree of impatience in some line or other. We cannot understand why God would allow us to miss our bus and face the displeasure of our boss because we are late. It is only when we receive the news of the terrible accident in which the bus was involved that claimed many lives that the puzzle is complete...the blanks are filled in and we can see that our waiting was as a result of divine interposition by which our lives were saved.

Wait patiently, friends of mine, and remember always: Stop and Smell the Roses

Love,

Verne

Learning His Song

In the full light of day and in hearing of the music of other voices, the caged bird will not sing the song that his master seeks to teach him. He learns a snatch of this, a trill of that, but never a separate and entire melody. But the master covers the cage , and places it where the bird will listen to the one song he is to sing. In the dark he tries and tries again to sing that song until it is learned, and he breaks forth in perfect melody. Then the bird is brought forth and ever after he can sing that song in the light. Thus God deals with His children. He has a song to teach us and when we have learned it amid the shadows of affliction we can sing it ever afterward. (The Ministry of Healing, pg. 472)

It is difficult to envision God actively leading us into situations which brings hurt and suffering into our lives. We prefer to blame the devil for all our pain, heartaches and griefs. Yet it is none other than the master himself who carries the bird into darkness. Yes, my friends, God actively takes part in leading us into dark and dismal situations where we experience deep anguish and sorrow. At such times we are sorely tempted to doubt God's leading.  Sometimes we even pray for the crisis to be removed, not recognizing that its intended work has not yet been accomplished in our lives.

Like the Israelites of old we do not fully comprehend why God would lead us to a barren wasteland or to the bitter waters /of Marah where our thirst cannot be assuaged. What about when He leads us to a Red Sea experience where we are bound on both sides; the enemy is behind us and to step into the water seems to invite death? Friends of mine, we do not have to understand God's leading.  What we need is to trustfully follow it.

God may see it fit to lead us into strait places where we can fully appreciate our insufficiency. It is in such moments that we willingly cast our helpless souls on Him and receive the divine aid that we need. We learn finally to sing His song.  So then... could it be possible that God leads some of His children to the bitter waters of divorce, domestic violence, poverty, terminal illnesses, loss of homes, financial embarrassment, bankruptcy, rape, accidents?  Dare we follow His leading even to the valley of the shadow of death? 

May God help us to do so trustfully as we learn to sing His song.

Love you all.  Remember... Stop and smell the roses.

Verne