Wait Patiently for Him

"Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret-it leads only to evil. For evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land." Psalm 37:7-9 (NIV)

I once had a friend tell me that everything we have is either a gift from God or is acquired through sin. This was very profound to me. I would like to believe that all things are gifts from God, but unfortunately some people take things that do not belong to them or receive accolade for things they did not do. This is the way of this world, which is controlled by Satan (Ephesians 2). In our society of instant gratification, it is hard not to take matters into our own hands. If we want something, we go buy it. It doesn't matter if you do not have the money for it. You deserve it...you should have everything you want and everything everyone else has too! You want to have the position of your supervisor? Get them fired and move right into it whether you are qualified or even capable of doing it. Want to have a baby? Just do it-no need to be married in a covenant relationship with someone of the opposite sex. This is how our world is operating right now. But it is not much different from people in the Old Testament over 2,000 years ago. Jezebel had Naboth stoned to death so her husband, the king, could have Naboth's vineyard since he would not sell it to him (I Kings 21). But we should not fret when the evil people of our world succeed in their schemes and receive praises and reward. We should be patient and still and wait upon God to reward us. He will give us exactly what we need and most often more than we imagine if we will avoid our propensity to do evil. The evil men will be cut off from the land and from God. They will be eternally condemned while those who fear the Lord will live with Him forever and eat from the tree of life in paradise (Revelation 2:7).