Are you willing to be patient while the Lord completes His perfect will and plan in your life? Sadly, whenever we attempt to help God work, compromise always results.

God promised Abraham that he would have a son by his wife Sarah, but Abraham became impatient and had a son with Sarah’s handmaid Hagar. Because of his lack of patience, he committed immorality, and a seed of family disunity took root that would grow for generations.

Are you willing to suffer long in situations instead of trying to use your own methods to remove the source of your trial? The apostle Paul had an ailment that he called his “. . thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet.” Paul asked the Lord three times to remove the pain, yet ultimately he was willing to be content with the plan that the Lord had ordained for him. Trusting God requires an elimination of my Plan B strategy.

Paul continued to write about what he learned through his suffering. “And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” (1 Corinthians 12:9). If Paul had used his own methods to deal with his problems, we would likely be missing several books of the Bible today.

For someone who suffered from Paul’s deteriorating illness, the logical response would be to stay at home and rest. Instead, Paul allowed the Lord to turn his weakness into God’s power that the world might be reached with the gospel.

Only when you give a problem and your attempted solution to the Lord, will God be able to work in your life. Jim Elliot, a missionary who gave his life while trying to reach the Auca Indians in Ecuador, summed up this concept perfectly. “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose,” wrote Elliot.

Life is full of situations where we are forced to develop patience. Most of them are not fun. Trust God with the big and little things of life. Learn to be patient.

This article is part of the “Love Lessons from 1 Corinthians 13″ series. You can view the introduction to the series here.

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