Patience, Wisdom & Love

God's way of answering the Christian's prayer for more patience, experience, hope and love often is to put him into the furnace of affliction.  Richard Cecil

Have you ever prayed for patience or how about wisdom or love?  Too many times I think when we pray for these things we expect a different result from God don’t we?  We want him to make us instantly patient with the person we work with who irritates us.  We expect God to make us wise beyond our years without any effort on our part.  Then there is the whole love thing.  God tells us specifically to love our enemies but I think too many times we want Him to make exceptions.  We try to rationalize it with God.  “God, You really don’t want me to associate with that sinner do You?  This person has treated me badly and You still expect me to love them?” 

Sometimes God answers our prayers by throwing us into the very fire we are trying to escape from.  He challenges us to step up to the plate and hit a home run, but too many times we swing and miss the ball altogether because we haven’t figured out that the challenge God has placed before us is His answer. 

If you want to learn to be patient you will need to be in a circumstance that requires extreme patience and sometimes it takes a long time and we are required to exercise it over and over again.  If you want God’s wisdom you aren’t going to get it by going to the store and buying a program and downloading it.  You will need to search for it.  Sometimes the best way to learn something is repeating it over and over again.  Then there is the whole love thing.  Love our neighbor who irritates us; love the person who hurt us.  This kind of love takes sacrifice, so don’t be surprised if God puts you in the exact place where a person is most unloving to you. 

God doesn’t respond the way we think He should because He is God and we are not.  If we learn that one simple rule, our lives will be much easier and we will be able to see His work in everything we do.  When it comes to God, expect the unexpected.    

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I praise You for teaching me Your precepts by placing me into the very circumstance that I want to avoid.  The best lessons I have learned in life and the ones that stick with me are the very ones I prayed for You to remove.  If I understand this concept, I will learn patience, wisdom and love.    

Scripture: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. For by me your days will be multiplied, and years of life will be added to you.  Proverbs 9:10-11