This Week in Scripture; patience IS a virtue!

Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have given me relief when I was in distress. Be gracious to me and hear my prayer! - Psalm 4:1

This week starts something different; I'll be memorizing Psalm 4, starting from verse 1. It's a short psalm (8 verses), but it's rich with praise for a gracious God.

I've also noticed that there's an urgency with prayers and petitions before Him; if it's something that we really, really, REALLY want, we usually fall to our knees and beg God for That. One. Thing.

However, God doesn't run on our timetable; we should realize that we need to run on His (A thousand years is as a day...a paraphrase of 2 Peter 3:8.) and we don't always get what we want (God is not a magical Pez dispenser, as my best friend Becca would say.). Instead, we (Especially yours truly!) need to accept that His answer to our prayers are "No." and "Wait." We don't always get a "Yes!" I've found that the majority of my prayers are given a "Wait." or a "No." for an answer.

Case in point: Christ, just before He was arrested and then crucified, had prayed the following:

And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, "Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will." - Mark 14:35-36

He didn't say to His Father, "Look, God. I came down here and all that stuff; I did what You wanted Me to do. How about we spare this death thing from Me, okay?" Instead, He said, "Not My will but Your will be done."

He ended up doing His Father's will; we should be aiming for that as well. Patience is a virtue after all.