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Bold Spirits, Patient Hearts

Do you ever feel perplexed about the decisions in your life? Have you felt confused about the right path to take? How often do you feel torn between one duty and another?

Wait patiently for the LORD; be strong and courageous. Wait patiently for the LORD! — Psalm 27:14

Waiting on the Lord may appear simple, but it is a posture that a Christian soldier only learns after many years of training. Marching and charging come easier to God's warriors than standing still. During perplexing times, the most willing spirit, eager to serve the Lord, may not know what action to take.

So, what should one do during these times? Should one agonize in despair? Should one retreat in cowardice, turn to fear, or charge forward in presumption? No, the answer is to simply wait. But this waiting should not be passive. Instead, one should wait in prayer. Speak to God, lay your troubles before Him, voice your struggles, and invoke His promise of assistance.

In predicaments between different duties, it is wise to be as humble as a child and to wait with a simple soul for the Lord. If you recognize your own folly and are wholly willing to be led by the will of God, you can be assured of His blessings. However, this waiting should be done in faith. Express your unwavering trust in Him. Believe that even if He keeps you waiting until midnight, He will arrive at the right time.

Wait with quiet patience, even with gratitude to God for the delay. Do not grumble about the immediate cause, as the children of Israel did against Moses. Accept your current situation and wholeheartedly commit it to your covenant God, saying, "Now, Lord, not my will, but Yours be done. I am at my wits' end, but I will wait until You part the waters, or push back my foes. I will wait, even if it takes many days, because my heart is fixed upon You alone, O God."

Lord, in my waiting, strengthen my spirit.
Guide my actions with Your divine wisdom.
May my patience reveal Your perfect timing.
Let my faith in You be my joy, my salvation, and my refuge.

Questions for Reflection

1. How can you apply the principle of waiting on the Lord in your daily life?
2. How might patient waiting strengthen your relationship with God?
3. What does it mean to wait on God with an attitude of gratitude?
4. How can you find peace in times of perplexity?
5. How can you express your unwavering trust in God during times of waiting?
6. What are the challenges you face in learning to wait patiently on God?
7. Can you recall a time when waiting on God resulted in a better outcome than if you had acted immediately?
8. How does the knowledge of God's perfect timing impact your decisions and actions?
9. In what ways can humility play a role in your waiting process?

Supporting Scriptures

Isaiah 40:31: But those who wait upon the LORD will renew their strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.
Psalm 37:7: Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for Him; do not fret when men prosper in their ways, when they carry out wicked schemes.
Proverbs 20:22: Do not say, “I will avenge this evil!” Wait on the LORD, and He will save you.
Isaiah 30:18: Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you; therefore He rises to show you compassion, for the LORD is a just God. Blessed are all who wait for Him.
Lamentations 3:25: The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.
James 5:7: Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer awaits the precious fruit of the soil—how patient he is for the fall and spring rains.
Psalm 130:5: I wait for the LORD; my soul does wait, and in His word I put my hope.

Dawn and Dusk: Scriptures, Devotions, and Prayers. Inspired by Charles Haddon Spurgeon's Morning and Evening: Daily Readings. You are free to copy as needed for noncommercial personal and ministry use.

Bible League: Living His Word
Because the Sovereign LORD helps me,
    I will not be disgraced.
Therefore have I set my face like flint,
    and I know I will not be put to shame.

One of the main benefits of being a Christian is that one does not go through life without help from above. The divine being goes with us through life and helps us. To use the vernacular, He "has our back." When the issues of life must be addressed, the LORD is there to help us address them. Although we may stumble, we will not fall, for the LORD upholds us with His hand (Psalm 37:24).

It is for this reason that we will not be disgraced. Left to ourselves and our own devices, the chances for humiliation and disgrace increase exponentially. After all, we are human, all too human. It seems to be part of the very essence of humanity to make fools of ourselves. Left to ourselves, our walk through life is one of constant stumbling, falling, and wandering off the tried and true ways of life. The LORD, however, keeps us from embarrassment, keeps us from becoming the butt of jokes.

The advantage of knowing that God has our back, then, is that it gives us great confidence. We can go forth in life taking all the risks and chances life requires for any kind of movement forward without worrying about our reputations, without worrying if we will become an object of scorn. As our verse for today says, we can set our faces like flint. We can firmly make the decisions and take the steps necessary to go forward in life without wavering and vacillation. We will inspire confidence in others, and we will encourage them to go with us, when they see the firm resolve in our faces.

Some think that walking with God reveals personal weakness and incompetence. They think that only those without talent and ability rely on the LORD for help. From the Bible's perspective, however, those that think this are proud – and God opposes the proud (James 4:6). Indeed, the proud are the ones most likely to fall and suffer disgrace. In contrast, the Apostle Paul says, "Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame" (Romans 10:11).

Life takes courage and confidence. Life takes firm resolve and decisiveness. Today, seek the help of the LORD – and you will receive all of these things.

Bible in a Year
Old Testament Reading
Psalm 142-144

Psalm 142 -- I cry with my voice to the Lord. With my voice, I ask the Lord for mercy.

  NIV   NLT   ESV   NAS   GWT   KJV   ASV   ERV   DRB

Psalm 143 -- Hear my prayer, O Lord. Listen to my petitions.

  NIV   NLT   ESV   NAS   GWT   KJV   ASV   ERV   DRB

Psalm 144 -- Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who teaches my hands to war

  NIV   NLT   ESV   NAS   GWT   KJV   ASV   ERV   DRB

New Testament Reading
1 Corinthians 10:14-33

1 Corinthians 10 -- Warning to Avoid Israel's Fate and flee from Idolatry; Freedom of believers

  NIV   NLT   ESV   NAS   GWT   KJV   ASV   ERV   DRB

Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library.
Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion
All who are mine belong to you, and you have given them to me, so they bring me glory.
Insight
What did Jesus mean when he said “they bring me glory”? God's glory is the revelation of his character and presence. The lives of Jesus' disciples reveal his character, and he is present to the world through them.
Challenge
Does your life reveal Jesus' character and presence?
Morning and Evening by Spurgeon
Psalm 27:14  Wait on the Lord.

It may seem an easy thing to wait, but it is one of the postures which a Christian soldier learns not without years of teaching. Marching and quick-marching are much easier to God's warriors than standing still. There are hours of perplexity when the most willing spirit, anxiously desirous to serve the Lord, knows not what part to take. Then what shall it do? Vex itself by despair? Fly back in cowardice, turn to the right hand in fear, or rush forward in presumption? No, but simply wait. Wait in prayer, however. Call upon God, and spread the case before him; tell him your difficulty, and plead his promise of aid. In dilemmas between one duty and another, it is sweet to be humble as a child, and wait with simplicity of soul upon the Lord. It is sure to be well with us when we feel and know our own folly, and are heartily willing to be guided by the will of God. But wait in faith. Express your unstaggering confidence in him; for unfaithful, untrusting waiting, is but an insult to the Lord. Believe that if he keep you tarrying even till midnight, yet he will come at the right time; the vision shall come and shall not tarry. Wait in quiet patience, not rebelling because you are under the affliction, but blessing your God for it. Never murmur against the second cause, as the children of Israel did against Moses; never wish you could go back to the world again, but accept the case as it is, and put it as it stands, simply and with your whole heart, without any self-will, into the hand of your covenant God, saying, "Now, Lord, not my will, but thine be done. I know not what to do; I am brought to extremities, but I will wait until thou shalt cleave the floods, or drive back my foes. I will wait, if thou keep me many a day, for my heart is fixed upon thee alone, O God, and my spirit waiteth for thee in the full conviction that thou wilt yet be my joy and my salvation, my refuge and my strong tower."

Daily Light on the Daily Path
Esther 5:2  When the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, she obtained favor in his sight; and the king extended to Esther the golden scepter which was in his hand. So Esther came near and touched the top of the scepter.

Exodus 22:27  for that is his only covering; it is his cloak for his body. What else shall he sleep in? And it shall come about that when he cries out to Me, I will hear him, for I am gracious.

1 John 4:16-19  We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. • By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. • There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. • We love, because He first loved us.

Hebrews 10:22  let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Ephesians 2:18  for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.

Ephesians 3:12  in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him.

Hebrews 4:16  Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org.

Evening August 29
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