One of our regular readers and my longtime good friend, David, responded to Monday’s blog post, “Love is Patient,” with an important observation.
David pointed out that patience is not only something we owe to one another; it is also something we must learn in our relationship with God. He offered the example from Hebrews 6:15 of the patriarch Abraham, who “patiently waited” for God’s promise to be fulfilled.
David’s observation reminded me of a story I once read about the 19th-century New England preacher Phillips Brooks. He was known for his poise, patience, and quiet manner. However, like all of us, he was affected by the pressures of life and ministry and suffered periods of frustration.
One day, a friend saw the minister feverishly pacing the floor. Back and forth. Back and forth. Like a caged lion. Finally, he said, “What’s the trouble, Mr. Brooks?” His reply was classic.
“The trouble is that I’m in a hurry, but God isn’t!”
Have you ever felt like Phillips Brooks?
The example of Abraham is the epitome of patience in waiting on the Lord. God called him when he was 75 years old. In Genesis 12:1-3, God commanded him to leave his home, country, and relatives behind and go into a land that God would lead him to.
Furthermore, God promised Abraham that He would make his name great, give him a special land, make of him a great nation, and bless his descendants. However, Abraham and his wife, Sarah, were childless. And both were beyond the normal age for having children.
Yet, Abraham believed God, packed his belongings, and journeyed where God led, waiting. And waited. And waited. Twenty-five years later, Sarah miraculously bore the son of promise, Isaac.
Abraham’s patience was not passive resignation. He continued trusting, obeying, and following God even when he could not see the fulfillment of the promise.
Abraham, however, didn’t live to see all the promises fulfilled, but they were. And through Jesus Christ, the ultimate fulfillment of the “seed promise,” they are still being realized today. I work and worship with brethren who are the spiritual descendants of Abraham.
Being patient and waiting on God is tough.
Patience calls for faith. Resilience. Fortitude. Endurance. And steadfastness. An anonymous author penned, “Patience is a calm endurance based on the certain knowledge that God is in control.”
The Psalmist often reminded his readers, and us today, to patiently wait on the Lord to work His will. In the midst of trial and trouble, adversity and enemies, David declared his confidence in God’s salvation. Thus, his fears were replaced with faith, and he shared this resolve and admonition:
Wait on the Lord;
Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart;
Wait, I say, on the Lord!
–Psalm 27:14
Waiting is difficult. It goes against human nature. It’s contrary to our culture. In fact, we’ve almost elevated impatience to a virtue. We admire the hard-charging, choleric businessman who says, “I may be impatient, but I get things done.”
Being patient with God is especially challenging because we may feel He could do something if He wanted to. Critics cry, “Why does God allow suffering?” “Why doesn’t God do something?” “When is God going to put an end to the mess we’re in?”
We pray for strength, courage, and deeper faith, yet still feel weak, afraid, and doubtful. We ask the Lord to heal a loved one, yet they are still sick. We pray for peace, but our world is still at war. Why?
While there are several more profound scriptural answers to these anxious cries, we must remember that God works His will, as a popular hymn says, “In His Time.”
Peter reminds us that “with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Pet. 3:9). Time is God’s prerogative. As He told the prophet Isaiah, the Lord reminds us, “At the right time, I will make it happen” (Isa. 60:22).
Ask Joseph. Ask David. Ask Abraham.
Joseph waited in prison. David waited while hiding from Saul. Abraham waited for a son. In every case, God was working even when His people could not see it.
Furthermore, God’s omniscience allows for a perspective on the bigger picture that human hearts can’t grasp. He does not see as we see, think as we think, or work His will as we might plan.
Never forget that what we perceive as God’s delays are not necessarily God’s denials.
May we have deeper faith and greater patience as we “wait on the Lord.” And may we echo the sentiment of the hymnist Diane Ball:
“Lord, please show me every day,
As you’re teaching me your way,
That you do just what you say,
In your time.”
–Ken Weliever, The Preacherman
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