Peter in his second epistle talks of God's patience toward believers. He's talking about scoffers -- "Where is the promise of His coming?" -- and the fact that it's taking Christ so long to return, but the principle Peter points to is "The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you" (2 Peter 3:9).
Jesus talked a lot about prayer. He told us to "pray for those who persecute you" (Matt 5:44-45). He gave two parables to specifically teach His disciples "that they ought always to pray and not lose heart" (Luke 18:1-14). Paul told the Thessalonians to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thess 5:17). It appears that we are called to pray ... a lot.
Putting those together, then, I think I see a pattern. God is patient toward you, and you are commanded to pray without ceasing -- to always pray and not lose heart. We, apparently, need to be patient with the God who is patient with us. We need to persevere in prayer to the God who perseveres for us. Each of us has "impossible" prayers for people or circumstances or problems that seem to be hopeless. Remember, God is "able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us" (Eph 3:20). So be patient with God. If you can't see what He's doing, trust His heart. Don't lose heart. He hasn't.
1 comment:
Interesting connection of thoughts. Not directly linked, but certainly connected, much like the rest of Scripture.
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