As
You Wait
TODAY’S
SCRIPTURE
Dear brothers and sisters,
be patient as you wait for the Lord’s return. Consider the farmers who
patiently wait for the rains in the fall and in the spring. They eagerly look
for the valuable harvest to ripen.
James 5:7, NLT.
TODAY’S
WORD
God has put dreams and
desires in every person’s heart. But most times, there’s a season of waiting
involved. Maybe you’re waiting for a relationship to improve; waiting to get
married; waiting for a promotion, or waiting to overcome an illness. Much of
life is spent waiting. But there’s a right way to wait and a wrong way to wait.
Too often, when things don’t happen on our timetable, we get down and
discouraged or anxious and fretful. That’s because we’re not waiting the right
way.
Notice that today’s verse
doesn’t say if you wait; it says as you wait. The fact is that we’re all going
to wait. It goes on to say that we should consider how the farmer
waits—patiently and eagerly. We’re not supposed to sit around and be
discouraged; we’re supposed to be hopeful, positive and full of expectancy!
Today, no matter what you
are praying for, expect things to change in your favor. Today could be the day
that God turns it all around. As you wait with patience and expectancy, you’ll
open the door for God to move. He’ll fight your battles, and you’ll see that
abundant harvest He’s promised in every area of your life.
PRAYER
FOR TODAY
Father, today I choose to
wait expectantly for You. I trust that You are working behind the scenes on my
behalf. I put my trust and hope in You knowing that You have good things in
store for my future in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
***
“Beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, [Jesus] explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.” (Luke 24:27 NIV)
Only God could have put the Bible together. It is 66 books written over 1,600 years by 40 different authors — and it has one theme.
It is one of the reasons we know that the Bible is God’s Word: It has a single unified theme. From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible is all about God redeeming man. Jesus is its star.
The fact that the Bible has only one theme is nothing short of a miracle. It’d be one thing if one person wrote the Bible. The Koran was written by one person, Mohammed. The Analects of Confucius were written by Confucius. The writings of Buddha were written by Buddha. You’d expect them to be uniform.
The Bible, on the other hand, was written by 40 people, in every age and stage of life and on three continents. And they all wrote the same story — Jesus’ story. Prophets and poets, princes and kings, sailors and soldiers all had the same story. Some were written in homes, others in prisons, and others on ships. You couldn’t have put together a more diverse group of authors.
Yet the story is the same.
Imagine I gave 50 people a piece of paper and I told those 50 people to tear their pieces of paper into different shapes — but I never tell them how I’m going to use them. What’s the likelihood I’d be able to take those pieces of paper and make a map of the United States out of them? Those odds would be astronomically low. If I did that, most people would think it was a trick.
That’s the miracle of how the Bible was put together.
We tend to think that the New Testament is about Jesus and the Old Testament is about Israel. But that’s not true. The Bible says in Luke 24:27, “Beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, [Jesus] explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself” (NIV). The New Testament wasn’t even written then.
The pictures, metaphors, analogies, and illusions — from beginning to end — are about God’s plan to redeem people and build a family for eternity. It all began with him. You can see him in every book.
That’s a miracle.
Talk About It
- Does considering the miracle that is the cohesiveness of the Bible change your attitude toward it as you read in your quiet time today?
- When you speak of or quote the Bible, do you reflect the wonder and reverence that comes from understanding what a miracle the Bible truly is?
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