Wait Patiently

For they have turned their backs to me, and not their faces. But in the time of their trouble they say, “Come and save us!”

✙ Jeremiah 2:27

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In his commentary on Hebrews 11:1, John Calvin emphasized the connection between faith and patience. "Faith can be no more separated from patience than from itself," he said. And patient waiting is a good definition of hope. Waiting is difficult when we do not know what it is that's going to happen, and faith is that image, that idea that we have in our minds as we wait.

This, I think is what God was talking about in Jeremiah 2. God's people grew tired of waiting and turned their backs on God. In their impatience they pursued the promise of other gods. When it turned out that those other gods could do them no good in a time of crisis, they called upon the God who created them. This required no faith, however—it was simply flailing about in the void.

As human beings, impatience is a feature of our personalities. But God is patient. In Jesus Christ we see that, even when we turn our backs or turn aside from the path, God hears us when we call. This very image of a loving Parent, anxious to welcome us back home, is itself the assurance of that for which we hope and wait.
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Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

✙ Hebrews 11:1

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Prayer after thinking about today's devotion:

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Be with me as I wait, O Lord, and may the assurance of your presence grow in me with each passing day.

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After your own thanksgivings & petitions, close with the Lord's Prayer.

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