Hey!
This is one of my first "definition" essays!
Tell me what you think
By Robert W. Oakley
-----Day by day the world continuously spins and shall continue to do so indefinitely. It is the same with people and their desires, their needs, and their dreams. Day by day we as humans will continuously want and need more and more. As children, the thrill of wanting that new toy, gadget, video game is so intense that if we could do anything to have the ownership of such an item we would do it; but there is always that devastating answer as we go to mom and dad asking so selfishly for them to give our hearts desire “Wait until a reasonable time, like your birthday” which of course is a month away. “But Mom, but Dad, that’s forever away” our unwilling to wait voice would cry out “I want it now” we would then demand. “You’ll just have to be Patient, end of discussion” mom and dad would finally exclaim withstrong authority and that unique parent like voice many parents tend to have and use. Even as we age and become parents ourselves it is very difficult to wait for the things we want and more importantly the things we need. Need and desire are two common things that we often wait for and often tend to be impatient about, but one other concept to waiting is waiting for an answer. During times of hardship and suffering we often ask the question “Why?” and “how long?” Say your home has been destroyed by unknown cause your first inquiry would most likely be “Why did that happen?” or “how did that happen?” Then you ask “What do I do now?” and “how long will it be till life is back to normal and will it ever be normal again?” James 1:2-4 says “ My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience, but let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing“.
-----Famine, drought, poverty—these are all good examples of divers temptations. The word temptation in James chapter one, verse two really means trials. Divers temptations can also be viewed as tests; like a master potter tests his material before he begins to mold it, God, our master potter wants to test us to see if we are worthy, much rather, ready to be molded so that He can effectively use us to His will. God will use divers temptations effectively as well to see how His work will react in certain scenarios (trials). In some cases we as mistake making people will tend to blame God for some of the more awful things that have occurred in our lives. In thinking this we would be gravely mistaken indeed, for the book of James 1:13 states “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man”. So if God does not tempt us, who does? Satan of course, but God can and will use Satan to tempt us so that God can make us stronger willed against such temptation and closer to Him. As far as divers temptation goes, Satan will use difficulties in our lives to try and lead us (tempt us) away from God. As a result and if we are patient, we will turn away from Satan and give praise unto the Lord for his working in our lives to help us develop and become more like Him. We’re not alone in this battle for souls, every one goes through trials, and God will always be on our side as long as we acknowledge Him and walk in His ways. One of the most tried men of God would have to be Job of the Bible. Job lost his crop, live stock, family, and home all in the same day. Did Job curse the Lord like Satan had suggested at the very beginning, no! Instead he fell before the lord, praised Him, and in the end Job received everything he had lost two fold. Another good example of the Bible is Joseph. Now here is a man who had it all. Education, luxury, and great potential, but all of that was stolen away by his jealous brothers. Instead of living like a king among his family and his friends he was thrown into a pit and sold into slavery. Did Joseph look to the heavens and curse the Lord, no; he instead gave thanks unto God, and because of Joseph’s patients, God aloud great things to happen. In the end, Joseph became second man of the entire country and wound up saving not only the people he governed from certain starvation and famine but also his family and the entire population of God‘s chosen people. As you can see, God has a purpose and plan for everything and nothing surprises God for He has preordained what so ever comes to pass. Trials are most essential to life. Without trails we would never grow and we would never strive to seek out God and his truth.
-----Waiting for God to reveal His divine plan for us is not always easy and going through with God’s plan, is no walk in the park, but rather a long strenuous journey up the hill of difficulty. Good things always come to those who wait; especially to those who wait upon the Lord. Have patients and always reassure yourself that God will always be there to pull you through and into His arms. The Lord will not give anything, but one thing God will give liberally to all men (who ask of it) is wisdom. To be wise is much better then being rich and well taken care of. But most who are wise often are rich and well taken care of in the first place. A lack of wisdom often means a lack of patients; therefore, an impatient man is often a miserable one. So is it not profitable to wait for the things you want and depend solely upon the Lord for the things you need?
-----Let patience have her perfect work, and all will be well. Ask of wisdom, wait patiently and God will work through you taking care of every need. Patience is probably the highest virtue anyone can have. If one can wait forever for his hearts desire, even unto death, he would most certainly be viewed as high in virtue and in principle. When struggling do not think that God is not there or he does not care, but rather be patient, pray persistently for wisdom, and God will give you justice. No matter what, God will be there for every battle, for every need, for every struggle. When going through strife in our lives we must not say “Curse be to God for leaving me behind” but “Thanks be to God he is working, molding, making me more like Him” This is the definition of patience--acknowledge He is God, walk with him, know that everything will be taken care of, and so shall it be and so shall you be deemed a patient man.
-----We will be made perfect and entire wanting nothing: can you imagine wanting nothing, nothing at all for the rest of your life; can you imagine being perfect and entire? Once we realize that God will make every need, we will come to realize that God will take care and we shall want nothing. As we grow older, as we pray for wisdom and receive wisdom, and as we begin to realize that God will be there by our side ready to answer any need, we will naturally start to desire nothing already knowing that we have everything in God. Having a desire for something isn’t wrong but when we have faith in God we will want nothing of God accept his love, friendship, and wisdom. God wants us to walk with Him and to talk with Him. Not because God is lonely but because God loves us, and he wants us to learn to love him back. God has destroyed man time and time again because he new that they were so driven with wickedness that they could never love God. There was a time when he completely wiped man of the face of the earth except a chosen few. Why? Because not only is it good to be patient but also it is good to know that God is patient, much rather, compassionate with the sin driver monsters he sent his very own son to die for, because God is divinely patient. For God so loved the world that he gave his own begotten son and whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but shall have everlasting life. Should not this be enough to satisfy our insane, desiring, hearts? Finally once rid of all earthly, fleshly desires and we become fully entrusted to God and are willingly ready to wait as long as it takes even unto death for what ever God has in store for us, we will be made perfect and entire wanting nothing. This is exactly what God wants for us to be perfect and entire wanting nothing. Of course we as sinful natured men can not be perfectly perfect, but we can still strive for nothing but God and his truth. For patents is a virtue, and let every man who loves mercy, who does justly, and walks humble with his Lord be acknowledge as a patient man.
-----The world will continue to spin, but will our selfishness continue to do so? In the very beginning of our lives we can be very unaware of what God intends to do with us. One must be patient, and ask for wisdom, for God gives wisdom to anyone who asks for it. Be patient; ask for an answer and one will be given in God’s due time. God is willing to wait for us but when our time starts to expire God will take drastic measures to insure we stay on the right path that He intends us to follow. Who are we to question God? Everything is according to plan; everything has a purpose, and NOTHING! takes God by surprise.
Posts
