Devotional Thought for our days:

25 The LORD is good to everyone who trusts in him,
26 So it is best for us to wait in patience—to wait for him to save us-
27 And it is best to learn this patience in our youth.  Lamentations 3:25-27 GNT

942         Pray that your holy ingenuity may achieve what your intelligence cannot attain, so that you may give more service of a better kind to everyone.

Surrender don’t come natural to me, I’d rather fight you for something I don’t really want than to take what you give that I need. And I’ve beat my head against so many walls Now I’m falling down, I’m falling on my knees

And the Salvation Army band is playing this hymn and Your grace rings out so deep it makes my resistance seem so thin!

So hold me Jesus, Cause I’m shaking like a leaf 
You have been King of my glory won’t you be my Prince of Peace!

I hate waiting for an answer, for the solution to develop to the problems that exist, for the resolution that will end the conflict with the peace of God, that surpasses all human understanding.

I want to solve the problems, fix the brokenness, see the relationships healed, and everyone gathering together at the altar to praise God, and I want such solutions now.  Why can’t I use my intelligence, which is supposed ot be a gift from God to solve these situations?  Why must they require patience?

These situations don’t require patience, at least that is not the real issue.

Faith is.  Trusting God is

Patience is just a part of what faith, what depending on God is all about.  If I trust in Him, I must trust in His timing, I must trust in His plan, including the timing of it.

Satan would love to get us, saying we aren’t patient enough, and God wouldn’t really be patient with our impatience.  He distracts us from God’s goodness, with a calendar or the second hand of a watch.

But again, patience isn’t the answer – it is simply a by-product of knowing and trusting in God.  Of knowing His goodness, of knowing His intent to care for us, to even hold us when we are broken. That is faith, trusting in Him to do as He promised, even when we can’t see it yet.  To let faith overwhelm doubt and impatience.

To realize the presence of God.  To relax and know He is God, to be sure He is here… your Prince of Peace who holds you!  AMEN!

Escriva, Josemaria. Furrow (Kindle Locations 3828-3829). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.

from Hold Me Jesus – by Rich Mullins