EMBARRASSING GOD

"I can only do & be what I think God wants me to do & be. I never want to embarrass Him or bring Him shame." Orel Hershiser, Men's Devotional Bible

PATIENCE

"Waiting is more about what you are thinking than what you are doing. When you wait on God, you trust God. You know that no matter when His help comes, it's coming. You know that if He wants you to have something, He'll give it to you at the perfect time. Waiting on God means trusting Him to do what only He can do & in the meantime doing what you can do.

"And patience is learned in these moments. As you learn to wait on God you practice patience, & that same way of thinking can transfer to all areas of your life. Anything in your world that needs patience can be thought of as your waiting on God. And since you know that God never disappoints & that His timing is perfect, waiting isn't such a misery. It becomes more anticipation than drudgery. 

"Patience can be your virtue; it is something that you can practice. You just have to choose to trust God in all areas of your life & to know that waiting is just an essential part of the process." Michael DiMarco, Devotions for the God Guy

WAR

"War is not without purpose, even for God. Atheists commonly question the existence of God because of horrors such as those we see in Ukraine. We have seen civilians buried in mass graves; we have seen bodies laid out in the streets. The people of Ukraine have suffered greatly.

"And yet, amidst the terrors of war, God remains God. Nothing happens that He does not--at the very least--allow. Read that last sentence again; it is a hard reality to understand & confess. At times, I struggle with such a reality. How can a good God allow such evil to take place? And yet, you & I both confess on Sunday that He controls & directs history for the good of His church. We confess that He is the 'maker ... of all things, visible & invisible,' & that Jesus Christ now sits 'at the right hand of the Father' controlling all things . . . We may never know why God allows some evils to take place. Furthermore, we should also not treat horrific events as merely opportunities to mine little golden nuggets of truth about how these events were 'good in the end.' For example, rooting around the effects of a suicide to find out how God might have used it to 'help' the family may not do justice to the pain & agony they suffer. God allowed; we may never know why." Roy Askins, The Lutheran Witness, June/July 2022