Day thirty-two

Patience is a difficult thing. Like so many other things, we demand it of others so readily, and yet, we can be very reticent in extending it to others. I know I have have struggled with patience, with others and with The Lord.

Scripture has much to say about patience. Psalm 37:7 says to "rest in The Lord, and wait patiently for Him", while In Psalm 40:1, David writes, " I waited patiently for the Lord; And He inclined to me, And heard my cry." We are repeatedly called to wait on The Lord, in these two verses and elsewhere in Scripture. So, why be patient?

Simply put, true patience characterizes true love. 1 Corinthians 13:4 says plainly, "love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud." It is indicative of the kind of love we as Christians are to cultivate. It is the love of others with no regard for ourselves. It is the love that God expressed to us in the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ, on the cross.

So, why be patient with The Lord? Psalm 27:13-14 puts it very well:

13 I remain confident of this:
    I will see the goodness of the Lord
    in the land of the living.
14 Wait for the Lord;
    be strong and take heart
    and wait for the Lord.

Now, I didn't know all these verses off the top of my head. I'm just as needful as anyone else reading this to commit these verses to memory. For myself, especially, Psalm 27:13-14 would be valuable to remember that what we have to patient for is worth everything, the good and the bad.