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View this email in your browser A daily Lenten e-mail with lessons of hope and courage, inspired by a variety of resources to encourage us in these confusing and turbulent times from St. Luke’s Church, Lebanon. Wednesday - Third Week in Lent Sometimes God seems to move slowly…very slowly.  Perhaps we’ve all found it hard to be patient with God's timing in our lives.  It’s easy to think that we know best: if we only pray harder, then we will push God’s hand and He will finally act, doing what we pray for.  But this is not the way God works. The Scripture gives us some insight into God’s ways.  They are slow, steady, and perfect.  In his teaching, Jesus refers to the “law and the prophets” stating that He came not to abolish them but to fulfill them.  This is true.  This happened over many thousands of years.  It took time for the perfect plan of God to unfold.  But it did unfold in His time and in His way.  The people of the Old Testament were anxious for the Messiah to come and to fulfill all things.  But prophet after prophet came and went and continued to point to a still future coming.  Even the Torah was a way of preparing God’s people for the coming of the Messiah.  But again, it was a slow process of forming it, observing it by the people of Israel, enabling them to understand it, and then beginning to live the Torah to its fullest.  Even when the Messiah finally did come, there were many who, in their excitement and zeal, wanted Him to get to th epoint - to do this fulfillment stuff.  They wanted their earthly kingdom established and they wanted their newfound Messiah to take his throne! But God’s plan was  very different than what seemed to be human wisdom.  God's ways were again and again shown to be far above our ways.  And so does it continue to be!  Jesus fulfilled every part of the Old Testament law and prophets, but not in the most expected.  What does this teach us?  It teaches us lots about patience;, about how it demands the qualities of surrender, trust and hope.  If we want to pray hard and pray well, we need to pray correctly.  And the correct way to pray is to pray continually "Thy will be done!"  This is hard at first, but becomes easier as we grow to understand and to believe that God always has the perfect plan for our lives and for every struggle and situation in which we find ourselves.  Reflect, today, upon your patience and your trust in the ways of the Lord.  He has a perfect plan for your life, and that plan is most likely different than your plan.  Surrender to Him and let His holy will guide you in all things. Scripture Lessons appointed for the day (Click on the lesson for the text) Deuteronomy 4:1–2,5–9 Matthew 5:17–19 Psalm 78:1–6 “You can't do God's will your way.” ― Carlos Wallace Patience . . .  What are do I want that differs from what I have now? Five years from now will this still be so important to me? Will it really matter? I wonder what God is thinking about this right now. Patience Mike Bowling from the album It's My Life.  Licensed to YouTube by Matter / CmdShft (on behalf of Daywind Records); Global Music Rights LLC, PEDL, BMI - Broadcast Music Inc., UMPG Publishing, Concord Music Publishing, and 2 Music Rights Societies “You also must be patient. Keep your hopes high, for the day of the Lord’s coming is near.” James 5:8 Copyright © *|CURRENT_YEAR|* *|LIST:COMPANY|*, All rights reserved. *|IFNOT:ARCHIVE_PAGE|* *|LIST:DESCRIPTION|* Our mailing address is: *|HTML:LIST_ADDRESS_HTML|* *|END:IF|* Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.