Wednesday, August 7 Exercise patience; make your hearts firm.​—Jas. 5:8

[Áine]

Wednesday, August 7

Exercise patience; make your hearts firm.—Jas. 5:8.

 

It is not always easy to keep our hope strong. We might become impatient while we wait on God. However, Jehovah is eternal, and his view of time is different from ours. (2 Pet. 3:8, 9) He will work out his purpose in the best way possible, but he may not act when we expect him to. What can help us to keep our hope strong as we wait patiently for God to fulfill his promises? (Jas. 5:7) Remain close to Jehovah, the one who guarantees our hope. In fact, the Bible closely links hope to faith that Jehovah exists and that he is “the rewarder of those earnestly seeking him.” (Heb. 11:1, 6) The more real Jehovah is to us, the greater our confidence will be that he will do all that he has promised. To keep our hope strong, we must pray to Jehovah and read his Word. Though we cannot see Jehovah, we can draw close to him. We can speak to him in prayer, confident that he will listen to us.—Jer. 29:11, 12. w22.10 26-27 ¶11-13

[Watching and Waiting]

This text fits right along with the dramatization in JWB for August, Pitfalls of Serving Jehovah With a Date in Mind.  I liked Thabo's words about waiting and keeping in mind the presence of the day of Jehovah (2 Pet 3:12), but to be careful not to wait in frustration.  That can happen easily if our expectations are not met, rather than focusing on our goal of reaching as many as possible while we have time.  Looking forward to Pt 2 coming up.