A Good Word - Patience
by Gary Johnson
Soon after I was immersed in my senior year of undergrad, I heard a challenging sermon on patience. I vividly remember the preacher challenging people to “pray for patience,” and being a new Christian, I did just that. Not only did I learn that God answers prayer, I also learned patience. No joking. On the day I prayed for patience in my morning devotions, I had not one, but two flat tires! And I stopped praying for patience. In our 2022 Good Word series, we focus on a single uplifting word each month, and June’s good word is patience.
What is patience with God?
In a single word, it is waiting. From the opening pages of Scripture, we read of people who were waiting on God, and for many of them, the waiting was difficult at best. Think with me.
Joseph spent thirteen years of his life in slavery and prison, waiting for God’s rescue.
Abraham and Sarah waited twenty-five years to have a son.
Noah waited on flood waters to recede so he could walk on dry earth again.
Once crowned king over Judah, David waited for seven years before he was crowned king over all twelve tribes of Israel.
The widow Naomi waited ten years for a famine to pass so that she could return to Bethlehem.
Paul waited fourteen years from the time of his conversion to set out on his first mission journey.
And what about us? Are we waiting on God? If so, for what? Are we waiting for healing from an illness or injury; for the restoration of a marriage or family; for a call to ministry; for gainful employment, etc.?
WHY is waiting on God so difficult?
We live in a hurried world. Our modern society is all about being quick. We make online purchases with “one-click” payment for same-day delivery. Fast food and fast internet speeds define our American lifestyle. Newer technology feeds a growing expectation of never waiting. From instant oatmeal to instant everything, we have forgotten what it is to wait. Whether in the first-century church or twenty-first century America, it is hard to wait on God, for it is both painful and necessary.
HOW to be patient with God
There are no “three easy, quick steps” to follow when being patient with God, yet in my forty years as a pastor and elder, I’ve tried to remember four insights when waiting on God. Think W.A.I.T.
W – God’s WORK
There is an old saying, “While we wait, God is at work.” Some of His best work is done in our lives while we wait. Strength and character are formed while we are in a storm, not after the storm has passed. Diamonds are formed by pressure and heat coming against coal. Pearls are formed when irritants invade the interior of an oyster. Irritants and pressures in life are moments when we cry out to God, waiting on Him to rescue us. In such seasons, God is more concerned with what we are becoming than in what we are doing. We are human beings, not human doings. The time spent waiting on God is never wasted by God. Philippians 1:6 reads, “…he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
A – God’s Abundance
Psalm 27:13-14 has shaped my life for decades: “I am still confident of this; I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord. Be strong. Take heart and wait on the Lord.” Every morning, I journal the specific ways that I saw—with my own eyes—the goodness of the Lord in the previous 24 hours. It is so easy for me to see God’s abundant mercy, favor, provision and more, and that perspective enables me to wait on Him all the longer.
I – God’s Inhabitance
During his thirteen years of slavery and imprisonment, Joseph found strength to wait on God from God Himself. Not once, but twice, we read that “the Lord was with Joseph,” both as a slave of Potiphar’s and as a prisoner (Genesis 39:2, 23). Moreover, while Moses waited on God to take the Israelites to the Promised Land, Moses erected what is called the tent of meeting where he met with God, even face-to-face (Exodus 33:7-11). Being that God does not change (Malachi 3:6), He still is with us in the waiting. God will never leave or forsake any of us. He inhabits us with His Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19-20, 1 John 4:4) so that we have His supernatural power to endure.
T – God’s TIME
Though difficult to admit, we are on God’s timetable and not our own. And He measures time differently, as a “thousand years are as a day, and a day is as a thousand years” (2 Peter 3:8). God is not in a hurry. His delay is not always His denial.
God made us in His image (Genesis 1:26-27), and God is patient, not wanting anyone to perish (2 Peter 3:9). Just as God is patient with us, we should be patient with Him. I like to think it would bring a smile to our Father’s face.
