Patience Shmatience.

Phew! Hair appt at 9am, library, school shopping, grocery store, make/eat lunch, Zach play date, layout, clean house, do laundry, YL girl over to chat/make cookies, all my cabin girls over for bible study, YL Camp Video Watch party, dinner with YL at Cici's...ug. I'm pooped.

Well, here's one of the studies we did tonight with the girls. It's about patience. If you know me...HA! Patience Shmatience. But I can learn a lot from David.

Psalm 13 (TNIV)

"How long Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? Look on me and answer, Lord my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death, and my enemy will say, "I have overcome him," and my foes will rejoice when I fall. B ut I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the Lord's praise, for he has been good to me."

From the study:

With all the instant gratification of our technological age, do you feel that patience is sometimes too hard to achieve? In Psalm 13, David's patience is tested and he begins complaining about the delay in help from God. Too often we may get in a bind and feel that we've been left deserted. In trying to trust God with our lives, in our frustration, we tend to revert back to doubt and want things attended to in our timing. David's thoughts are not new. But in his need, he remembers to turn to God and prays for preventing grace through his crisis. Relying on God's understanding and timing is not always easy, but may be required. God knows what plan and course of action to take, and by trying to take back our lives we can be interfering in our blessings or the blessings of others. In our waiting, we can also experience a true relationship with God, one that is strengthened, endurance greatened, character built. No wonder David ends this Psalm boasting of God's divine mercy. Psalm 13:5-6 says: But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, for he has been good to me." David reminds us that we can't always comprehend what's ahead, but God knows and His mercy prevails.

Things to think about: Why is learning patience and endurance so tough? Why sing to God when someone is fighting against us?