when the outlook is bad, look up…

in being patient waiting on GOD you wait expectantly, you wait quietly and then you wait confidently.

when the outlook is bad, you look up.  micah 7.7 (gn), i will wait confidently for GOD.

how do you do that?  you have hope.  hope is holding on praying expectantly – hope.  when you’ve got a problem that’s unexplainable, a person who is unchangeable, a circumstance that is uncontrollable then wait confidently.  GOD is working.

how do you wait confidently?  sit still.  don’t get nervous, anxious.  you don’t take matters into your own hands and work things out. 

psalm 37.7 (nlt), be still before the LORD and wait patiently for HIM to act. 

where do you need to have patience right now?  do you have an uncontrollable circumstance in your life right now?  maybe you're in a job situation and your boss has told you to do something that’s beyond your control and you don’t want to do it.  maybe you’ve had a financial reversal that was beyond your control.  maybe you have a long term illness. 

maybe you’ve got an unchangeable person in your life.  it’s frustrating when you tell your kids something to do over and over and they don’t do it. it’s frustrating when you want to make the marriage work and you’re willing to change but your partner is not willing to change.  it’s frustrating when you have a parent who’s growing old; their idiosyncrasies are coming out and they’re dependent upon you.  there’s that cantankerous relative that, every time they are around, they cause problems.  they’re never going to change.  you need patience with an unchangeable person.  you need patience with unexplainable problems. 

what do you do when you have these kinds of things?  remember what GOD has said in james.  GOD is in control.  it may be out of my control, but it’s not out of GOD’s control.  nothing is beyond HIS power and HIS purpose for my life is greater than the problem i’m experiencing right now.  GOD will reward your patience, if not in this life, HE will in eternity.  GOD is working behind the scenes for a purpose.

just a thought from the front porch…