April 10, 2019                                                                                                     Josh Smith

Psalm 27:13-14 – I am still confident of this:  I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.  Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.

John 10:11, 17 – I am the good shepherd.  The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep… The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life – only to take it up again.

Patient?  Nope.

I prefer short devotionals.  Actually, I prefer no devotionals, because I want to do my stuff, not God stuff.  But if there must be devotionals, better they be short.   I have trouble warming up to the idea of waking up much earlier or staying up much later for a lengthy set of scriptures, when I could be spending that time in something “productive”.  And, compounding the impatience, sometimes I have to read the scripture a couple of times to get it.  It’s hard to be patient and wait for understanding.  But I find that when I do offer up patient time to God, it’s good.  Always.  And it’s productive.  Always. 

As local pastor Bob Hagel said (in his farewell sermon to Oak Hill), we should think of waiting as you would a waiter in a restaurant.  Waiting is serving.  When I lay down my life, when I put aside my wishes to pursue God’s wishes, when I devote time to God instead of me, I am serving the Lord.  Jesus knew that the only way to find true goodness in life is to serve the Lord and others, giving of our time and energy and resources and our lives, and then wait patiently for the opportunity to do it again.

See?  Short.

Prayer:  God of patience and strength, help me to wait patiently for you.  And help me notice the goodness around me as I wait.