May 21 - Reading 49: Psalms 144-146

“The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy.”

(Psalm 145:8)

Because our God is gracious, compassionate, slow to anger and rich in mercy, He is patient. As we look back, we can see how He has been so patient with us as we struggled to come to, and stay in, dependence on Him. Yet, we often fight impatience when we don’t see immediate answers to our prayers.

If we believe we are trusting Him, then why do we fight impatience? Is it because we don’t really trust Him to accomplish it in His time, in His way, and in His plan? Are we thinking “God, I have such a good plan. It’s in keeping with Your will. Why aren’t You doing my plan as I have asked it to be done?”

Though we don’t realize it, what we may be saying is “MY will be done.” Take our prayers for the return of our prodigals, for example. It’s a good will. We want what He wants. And it is for the eternal benefit of those we love. However, we are frustrated when we don’t see the answer — NOW already.

We say we trust Him to accomplish it in His time. But in the meantime, we are anxious and worried. Maybe part of what we want is for God to answer our prayer so we feel that we don’t need to worry anymore. As if our worrying can accomplish anything. No, Jesus spends 10 verses in Matthew 6:25-34 telling us not to worry about anything!

As we read our Psalms to Him and intercede once more, let’s make sure we have handed all our anxieties over, totally handed them over, to His perfect plan. Let’s confirm with Him that we have truly let go so He is free to do His work. Then let’s look ahead to the future without worry, and spend time thanking Him now for the way in which He is answering our prayers. He is working out all the details in our lives. Though the way may be thorny, there will be a joyful ending.