Gods Sabbath

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E NTERING INTO G OD ’ S S ABBATH R EST

“Then he continued, ‘Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to hum ble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia.’” Daniel 10:12, 13. The reason why immediate solutions cannot always be achieved is because the Lord never uses force to gain His ends. In Daniel’s case the Persian king was a key person in the Israe lites’ return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple, and Satan was using all his power to prevent this from happening. God had to counter this influence with His own, and the battle became close and severe. It took time to win the king to the Lord’s side, but once this was accomplished, the Jews were permitted to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the city and the sanctuary. Pray for patience During the interval between submitting the problem to the Saviour and the solution becoming obvious, it may appear that our prayer has gone unheard, or has been shelved, and that God is doing nothing about the matter. We must not be deceived by these appearances, even though Satan will be doing his best to persuade us that things are just as they seem to be. Although we cannot see it, God is working at full capacity on the problems committed to Him. Our task is to rest in the assurance that our case is in His hands, and patiently, in confidence and trust, wait for the consummation of His work. At times this will be difficult, for it can look as if everything is headed straight for disaster. In fact the darker things grow, the more confident and happy God’s true children can become in the sure knowledge that He is in command of the situation, and is about to treat them to a marvelous demonstration of His pow er and skill. At this point we need to ask God for special patience, for it is a critical element in the achievement of victory: “This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God’s commandments and remain faithful to Jesus.” Revelation 14:12.