Ecclesiastes 7:8 (NLT), "Finishing is better than starting. Patience is better than pride."
Tuesday... Have you ever changed your mind?
Have you ever started something? You believed it was a very good thing to do. You felt clear and then started it but at some point you started thinking that maybe it wasn't the right thing to do. It was too hard so you decided to not finish it. In other words, you changed your mind.
Now in my reading Ecclesiastes 7 this morning I came across verse 8 (NLT), "Finishing is better than starting. Patience is better than pride." Sometimes in the middle of something that we think we are to do we start thinking that maybe I should quit. It doesn't seem like it is falling into place the way I think it should. Our pride can get in the way of our wisdom, our patience..
Again Solomon says here, "Finishing is better than starting. Patience is better than pride." At some point in this past year Margaret and I thought we were doing the right thing but then situations started getting difficult and we have wondered if we made the right choice.
Now look at these other very important verses here in chapter 7. Verses 13-14 says, "Accept the way God does things, for who can straighten what he had made crooked? Enjoy prosperity while you can, but when hard times strike, realize that both come from God. Remember that nothing is certain in life." As the NIRV says it, "So no one can find out anything about what's ahead for them." We must patiently trust God. He knew what was ahead when we started.
Verse 10 (MSG) says, "Don't always be asking, 'Where are the good old days? Wise folks don't ask questions like that." And I needed that today.
Verse 8 in the New King James Version says, "The end of a thing is better than the beginning; The patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit." But it is so easy to be impatient and to believe that we know best, isn't it?
Now I have read Proverbs over and over but I felt led to read Ecclesiastes this month. God knows what He is doing and He led me to this chapter this morning. He really did.
God knows what He is doing. Yes, beginnings are important but finishing is the key. So let's patiently believe that God knows what is best in our lives. Yes, "Enjoy prosperity while you can, but when hard times strike, realize that both come from God."
Again "Finishing is better than starting. Patience is better than pride." God is not finished with what He has started. He knows what He is doing. Yes, yes! #todaysbeginning

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