Today's Daily Lesson comes from Psalm 40 verses 1 and 2:
I waited patiently for the Lord;
he inclined to me and heard my cry.
2 He drew me up from the pit of destruction,
out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock,
making my steps secure.
3 He put a new song in my mouth,
a song of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear,
and put their trust in the Lord.
Patience requires waiting. To grow in patience requires endurance which by its very name necessitates our learning to endure something unsettling, unpleasant or altogether trying. Patience is a teacher, reminding us that we are not God and the universe's timing is beyond our ability to control.
The opposite of patience is frustration and agitation and ultimately destruction. This is the man who has not accepted his existential reality and is still trying to escape the locked room by running through the walls. We see this when there is no obvious escape from the current job or family circumstance or physical condition. The man who cannot accept the reality of the locked room ultimately destroys himself and anyone else with him. The man who does learn to accept the reality of the locked room is free -- even though he be imprisoned.
One cannot gain the patience of Job without hardship and loss. To learn to wait on God is to have to wait on God -- to act, to move, to answer prayers, to heal, to deliver us from evil, and to rescue us from death.
No one is born with patience; if we were we'd have all died from lack of attention. But that was the beginning of life. The rest of life is a long journey leading us to a place where patience -- the faithful waiting on God -- is all we have left.
And that place is called Hope.
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