Patience: God was 1st
by Mike Killebrew
Last summer my kids and I finished a project that we had been working on for a very long time! Approximately five years ago, I learned that my grandpa’s 1951 John Deere MT tractor was still in the family. Grandpa purchased it brand new in 1951 and used it as his main tool during his second career of farming. He used it until the early 1980s and then for the next 30 years it sat unused and exposed to the elements. When I learned of its existence from my Uncle Don, who had painstakingly prevented it from being scrapped when the farm was sold, I immediately asked him if I could restore it. What a wonderful opportunity to honor the past with a tangible keepsake from my family’s history. Every time I look at it, I’m reminded of a deep family well of faith, a well with water that I am privileged to drink. I’m reminded of God’s faithfulness to my family for generations. I’m also reminded of God’s patience. This tractor restoration became a great lesson on patience for my children and me.
I had no idea what I was signing up for with this restoration; it was a project that required extreme patience. As the tractor rested in “retirement,” it sat outside long enough for the exhaust manifold to completely rust away. This exposed one of the cylinders to the harsh elements causing the piston to seize to the cylinder wall. It was stuck, and in a major way. Over the course of the next three+ years my children and I very patiently took almost every bolt out, very slowly removing the rust, replacing, and restoring parts, eventually putting it back together again. On many occasions we would spend a significant amount of time with a single rusty bolt stubbornly frozen in place. It was a restoration requiring patience and significant love! We had to patiently wait as we worked, and that waiting was what made it possible to restore. It required patience to wait on the work of penetrating oil sprayed on a rusty bolt or the heat of a torch or searching for a replacement part.
As patience is an important theme in the restoration of the tractor, it is an important theme found throughout God’s Word. There are so many great examples of us being both the recipient of God’s patience and the need to express that same patience with Him and with others. This month in our e2 podcast we are focusing on patience, as a good word, in 4 different categories: Patience with God, patience with others, patience when experiencing suffering, and patience when confused. If you haven’t had a chance to watch our e2 podcast before, be sure to look for it on our Facebook page as a new one is posted every Tuesday.
Often when we think of patience in relationship with God, it is from the viewpoint of our being patient with Him - and rightfully so. We’ve probably all experienced waiting on God. We can wait on Him for a variety of reasons, and it is sometimes a difficult and growing experience. It is such a common theme; we could easily say that patience is a biblical virtue. As I type that phrase, I’m reminded of the multiple times I heard as a child, “patience is a virtue.” It is biblically present and in significant ways. Paul lists it among the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23.
While it is indisputable the importance of having patience, it can be difficult to practice. A virtue with many layers and complexities depending on the situation, sometimes the only way to have patience is through the power of the Holy Spirit.
As we pursue the virtue of patience or waiting without complaining, we must recognize and remind ourselves that He has first demonstrated profound patience towards us. We are created in God’s image, and He is patient. Starting with the epic crash of man in Genesis 3, when Adam and Eve gave into the temptation of sin, God started the slow and patient work of restoring us. I’ve always appreciated God’s response just after Adam and Eve sinned. God’s first response, found in Genesis 3:9 is that “He called to man, ‘where are you?’” He was looking for them as they hid! He began the restoration process with His creation immediately. His patience started there, and He has expressed His patience all throughout history from that moment on. In Exodus 34:6 (CEV), He tells us, “I am the Lord God. I am merciful and very patient with my people.” In Romans 2:4, we see that God’s patience and kindness leads us to repentance. We learn that the Lord isn’t patient because we deserve it. He is patient with us because it’s who He is. We also realize that God’s patience is necessary for our very salvation. God’s patience is a part of His very character, a character quality that allows him to go about the work of restoring us.
It is amazing how every time I see Grandpa’s restored tractor, I’m reminded of my grandpa and my family history, but I’m also reminded of lessons learned from its restoration. Including the very important lesson of patience. It puts a smile on my face every time I walk passed it or climb on it to hear it run. It is my prayer that as you and I pursue patience we see a restoration in process all around us and are reminded of how much patience the Lord has for his creation. Maybe when we are looking in the mirror or when looking at someone else or a current situation, we need to be reminded of just how exceptional God’s patience is for His creation.
