January 5 - Patience.

I Peter 5:6
"Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:”
 
Again, with the patience. If you haven’t already noticed, the words “wait” and some form of “patience” occur many times in Scripture. God wants us to be humble while we wait on Him.
 
Getting ahead of the Lord will only lead to headache and heartburn. If we push open the door of opportunity too soon, we may get what we think we want and need at first, but it will never last without God’s blessing.
 
Only by humbling ourselves under His authority will we ever reach our full potential. This is where the Crucified Life comes in. If we choose to not die to ourselves daily, we will eventually find ourselves at a crossroads not knowing where to turn, crying out to God for Him to help us correct the mess we’ve made. Why not do it His way to start with and avoid the heartache?
 
Obviously waiting is not fun. It’s often more confusing and depressing. He may ask us to wait a few hours, a few days, a few weeks, a few months, a few years, or perhaps many years. Where’s the hope in that? The last part of our verse today… “that he may exalt you in due time.”
 
Exalting ourselves will only be temporary. Waiting for Him to exalt us leads to eternal dividends that money can’t buy.
 
Mary & Martha waited for Jesus to come see Lazarus. All hope seemed gone when Lazarus died. A day passed… two days… three days…
 
“But He’s four days late, and all hope is gone. Lord, we don’t understand why you’ve waited so long… But His way is God’s way, not yours or mine. And isn’t it great, when He’s four days late, He’s still on time.” Aaron Wilburn
 
Still not encouraged to wait? Need some advice on what to do while you’re waiting? Read the next verse… I Peter 5:7.
 
 
Bible Reading:
Genesis 9-10  |  John 5  |  Proverbs 5
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