SHOW A WAITING ATTITUDE!

"I will show a waiting attitude for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me." MICAH 7:7.


MANY things in life can be viewed either positively or negatively, depending on our attitude.  When the Israelites were in the wilderness, they were miraculously provided with manna.  They should have looked around  at the barren landscape and have been deeply grateful to Jehovah for providing their sustenance.  That would have reflected a positive attitude.  Instead, they remembered the wide variety of food in Egypt and complained that manna was unappetizing.  What a negative attitude!  -Numbers 11:4-6.

 The attitude of a Christian today can similarly make things appear either bright or gloomy.  Without the proper attitude, a Christian could easily lose his joy, and that would be serious because as Nehemiah said:  "The joy of Jehovah is [our] stronghold."  A positive, joyful attitude helps to keep us strong and promotes  peace and unity in the congregation. -Romans 15:13; Philippians 1:25.


Despite living in difficult times, Jeremiah displayed a positive attitude.  Even when he witnessed the horrors of Jerusalem's  fall in 607 B.C.E., he could see positive things Jehovah would not Israel, and the nation would survive.  Jeremiah wrote in the book of Lamentations:  "It is the acts of loving-kindness of Jehovah that we have not come to our finish, because his mercies will certainly  not come to an end.  They are  new each morning.  Your faithfulness is abundant."  (Lamentations 3:22, 23)  Throughout history, servants of God in the most difficult circumstances have sought to maintain a positive, even joyful, attitude. -2 Corinthians 7:4; 1 Thessalonians 1:6; James 1:2.

Six hundred years after Jeremiah, Jesus was helped to endure because of his positive attitude. We read:  "For the joy that was set before [Jesus] he endured a torture stake, despising shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."  (Hebrews 12:2) Whatever opposition or persecution Jesus had to face-even the the agony of the torture stake- he kept his mind on "the joy that was set before him."  That joy was the privilege of vindicating Jehovah's sovereignty and sanctifying his name as well as the prospect of bringing great blessings to obedient mankind in the future.

Next time: SHOW A WAITING ATTITUDE! - Adopt a Waiting Attitude

The Watchtower, 2000