Good Student

"Good Student" By Diane Webb

Lamentations 3: 25—"The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him".

The Lord is good to us when we seek him and wait for him to tell us what to do. If we endure and continue to open ourselves up to God's will, he will take care of us. The waiting period can be the difficult period. There are those times where we have to wait through what seems the darkest period of our lives. When it's over God provides an opportunity that takes us away from the dark period. In the meantime, he is training us for what he has prepared for us. During dark times we turn to God for hope, encouragement, strength, and answers. We can feel ourselves growing in the areas that were formerly weak. We learn to control our tongues, our tempers, and our assumptions. We grow to communicate better, to listen more patiently, and to have greater compassion for others. Our sharp edges round out and our tender areas are toughened. The waiting time is really the growing time or for some people the resting time. Looking back you can call these periods "the best of times and the worst of times" (Dickens). They are the worst because of what we are going through—what we have to put up with. They are the best of times because of what we learn and how we grow. Are you in one of the dark periods? If you are, have faith that things will get better. Stop resisting the process because resisting makes the struggle worse. Submit in the areas you have no control over. Adapt and be flexible. Take stands when you feel the Lord prompting you to. Stand back when he tells you to stand back. Look inward at the areas you need to improve and grow in. You can shorten your dark periods by cooperating with God on smoothing out the rough spots. The more we struggle against God the worse it will be. You will find that when you stop resisting and accept in a particular area the struggle in that area suddenly disappears. You can feel the tension leave as you have accomplished that lesson. Many times our struggles have more to do with us trying to change someone else or an unchangeable situation. We argue, debate, and discuss things over and over again to no avail. Then we find ourselves right back in the same situation again and saying the same things over and over again. God does not expect us to fight every battle. All great causes are not our causes. Each of us has a very specific role to play in the kingdom of God. Everything we go through is to enable us to perform our task more excellently. Are you a good student? Do you follow instructions? The biggest struggle we face sometimes is in not accepting ourselves and in not accepting others. If you find yourself trying to change others look to see if you truly accept yourself. Accepting yourself and giving up the struggle against yourself and God will lead to acceptance of others. Sometimes non-resistance is the most powerful stance we can take in dealing with others and situations. It's not necessarily our place to change the world. We can work with God to change ourselves and by doing so have a greater opportunity to change the world. Changing things indirectly, by changing ourselves first, is the most successful method of change.

Dear Heavenly Father, I thank you for this word today. I appreciate your instruction even when I am a bad student. Lord, help me to be a good student and to cooperate better with you. I want to be molded into the person you want me to be. Help me recognize those areas you are changing in me through circumstances. Keep me from getting distracted by other people's problems or flaws. I ask in Jesus' name, Amen.