Sunday: The God of Patience
Read Romans 15:4-5. What is found in these verses for us?
We are normally impatient about things that we really want or have been promised but don’t have yet. We are often satisfied only when we get what we are longing for. And because we rarely get what we want when we want it, it means that we are often doomed to irritation and impatience. And when we are in this state, it is almost impossible to maintain a peace and trust in God.
mage © Bjorn Thorkelson from GoodSalt.com
Waiting is painful by definition. In Hebrew, one of the words for “wait patiently” (Psalm 37:7, NKJV) comes from a Hebrew word that can be translated “to be much pained,” “to shake,” “to tremble,” “to be wounded,” “to be sorrowful.” Learning patience is not easy; sometimes it’s the very essence of what it means to be in the crucible.
Read Psalm 27:14, Psalm 37:7, and Romans 5:3-5. What are these verses saying to us? What does patience lead to?
While we wait, we can concentrate on one of two things. We can focus on the things that we are waiting for, or we can focus on the One who holds those things in His hands. What makes such a difference when we wait for something isn’t so much how long we have to wait, but our attitude while we wait. If we trust the Lord, if we have placed our lives in His hands, if we have surrendered our wills to Him, then we can trust that He will do what’s best for us when it’s best for us, no matter how hard it is sometimes to believe it.
| What things are you desperately waiting for? How can you learn to surrender everything to God and to His timing? Pray your way into an attitude of complete surrender and submission to the Lord. |
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A friend of mine has just had a triple whammy! Many years ago they had to turn the life support off on their baby. A few months ago they buried a close relative who had died from cancer. Then, last night, the wife had a medical episode that has the potential to leave her in a situation where the husband may have to turn off her life support. The rawness of this gut-wrenching situation looms overhead like a Damocles sword as I think about what to write this morning. All our explanations and metaphysical discussion about the invisible working of loving God versus the very real pain of experiencing the pain and suffering brought about by evil seem so ineffective. We talk about such experiences being character-building and so on. And, for ourselves, that may be good advice. But for a loving caring father, brother, and husband, it makes no sense to comfort them with the notion that their character is being built by these experiences.
Sometimes we over-think these situations. Have you ever had your computer do a dummy spit and you cannot get it working again? So you get in an expert who tries to tell you that you should do your backups more often and that it would be a good idea to use electrical surge protection and that your virus checker is out of date. Pretty soon you get sick of all the good advice and you get someone who has lost the ability to give advice and just gets in and fixes the computer for you so you can get on with your work. The explanations can come later when your ears have time to listen.
Ethical discussions and metaphysics have their place, but when people are hurting someone needs to step in to soothe the pain. Where is God when bad things happen? Well, sometimes his hands and feet are tied up offering explanations when they really should be offering practical help and support. Are we here to do God's work or explain God's work?
When people are hurting, it seems to me that they don't need explanations. Often they just need a listening ear or an arm around their shoulders.
Besides, there often are no good "explanations" for bad things happening, other than "an enemy has done this."
Noted points Bro. Ashton, however in regards to your last paragraph God has never been too busy for anyone of us; His hands have never been too busy doing other things
Hi Nadine. What I was trying to say is that we are God's hands and feet. And sometimes we are so busy offering explanations that we fail to do his bidding. God does not fail us but we sometimes fail him.
The lesson does well to hilight how we can either focus on the situation that doesn't seem to be working out, or we can instead redirect our focus to The One who is working all things together for greatest good (Romans 8:28; Isaiah 55:8-9) - especially when we can't see how.
But how do we focus on God in those times? Again, we can focus on trying to guess how God might make the situation turn out - though this may still leave us unsettled. Of we can focus on how God has "led us in the past". And/or we can focus on who God is and praise Him specifically for the various dimensions of who He is - walking through one dimension at a time. Doing this will redirect our mind to The Orchestrator of our situation and His abundant love and care for us that is working things out at a far bigger level than we can see in-the-moment. I suspect Jesus had practiced this and therefore how he was able to sleep in a boat amid a storm that had the disciples, seasoned fishermen, despairing for their lives (Matthew 8:23-27). Doing this takes practice - and today will bring opportunities for practice.
I have an 'almost' 7years old son. From a very tiny age, I realized how impatient he is but, I'd always say, he's growing and will eventually outgrow that habit. As he grew older, though we would have little pep-talks on patience and how important it is....no changes!
Now that he's older, it is no different, to the point where I now feel as though, I'm running out of patience with him. So I asked God, why can't my son learn to be patient despite the amount of talks we've had, countless examples shared, scoldings given that had even led to punishment and he still hasn't budged. God took me on a journey down memory lane, leading to even existing scenarios that replayed on my conscience. Immediately, I asked for forgiveness because this struggle with my son, will be for a very long time because the trait of impatience was inherited from me.
I realize I need to be fixed before I'm able to fix my son and all these years of my life, God has been so patient with me; despite my short comings, despite my character when waiting on Him to grant what I have asked/prayed or is praying for, despite losing patience with my child for him not having patience...not until we have reached the place of recognizing our own faults or ways-can we get to that place-where God wants us to be. Long-suffering and patience walks hand in hand.
This is so true, Truddymay! Sons and daughters are their parents reflex... thank God when I recognize what´s mine (trait) in my descendent! It might be a blessing when I have a new chance to see "me out of myself" - because from a distance, perhaps I can get a better understanding! That´s also why what I need the most is to ask for the Holy Spirit, so He can give me more knowledge of what is spiritual and help me to figure out my own mental and physical limitations! It is ALWAYS best to wait on the Lord! He knows the future and what I need to become to be more useful in His hands, for my own sake, for the sake of others around me, and for the glory of the Father Himself! May I wait patiently on the Lord, TODAY!
Hello Trudymay,
When my son was young, he had a strong propensity to argue about the fairness of his lot in life. I found it was effective to work with him through his objections. If for example he objected to the fairness of his duty to do the dishes in turn with us, I would join with him to help in his duty. But in turn, I would “ask” him to join me in my duty of washing the dishes, with the expectation of helping one another.
Often this would start him to arguing about fairness. Rather than send him to his room to reconsider his behaviour by himself, we would both go to his room and keep silence together for a set period of time (usually a couple of minutes) while we both considered the situation. If silence was broken, then time would be added. This taught us both patience in the consideration of the issue at hand.
After the time was ended, we would talk together about the incident and how we might have better understood the issue of “fairness.” These talks would often focus on “fairness” in the life of Jesus (and others) and would end by asking God to remake our hearts to align with his.
I believe that both of us learned valuable lessons from these talks. They were a constructive way to practical godliness. Being a parent taught me much about God’s patience and love.
Richard
What is the purpose of my life? To praise and glorify the LORD and to one day live in the earth made new with Him where only rightousness exists.
Eph 1:11-12, 2Peter 3:13
In any crucible I encounter - physical, financial, emotional or spiritual - I need to wait on the LORD to help me endure to the end, to trust it is part of His plan for my life in the big picture of His plan of salvation for the world.
Matt 24:13
James 5:7-8,10-11,13-15
Heb 11:13-16, 35-40
At same time I am called to be a caring light bearer to those I encounter on my pilgrimage. Jesus first tended to their physical needs whether they had faith or not, whether they were friends or enemies and I need to follow His example.
Matt 5:44-45
Many times traits our children have have been passed on from 3 or 4 generations ago. We seldom know but tiny pieces of information from our great or great-great grandparents. When we knew them it was after years and years of being in God's refining crucible. What they inherited from the characters of their parents is unknown by us. The good news is God knows how hot the fire needs to be and how long the duration we need to be in the crucible.
We are going to talk about the fruits of the spirit this week. Like one of my friends said most of them cannot be grown in a vacuum. They require us to be in community where the fruit itself is required! I cannot develop love if there is nobody who requires my love. Likewise, I cannot develop patience unless there are people who push my buttons and tend to make me angry. Could it be the reason we are in a community?
Excellent point, Petit!
Amen, and Amen, to the fact that Jesus was "asleep" during the storm. And a triple Amen that He was nonetheless there with them through the storm. So we can place our trust in the fact that Jesus may be asleep while we wait for Him to bless us but He will do just what He did then to His Apostles and "Calm The Storm" that is attempting to steal our peace of mind now!
I took note of the lesson writer’s comment that the word ‘wait patiently’ can be translated to mean ‘to be much pained’, ‘to shake’, to tremble’, to be wounded, ‘to be sorrowful’. Is this why we are called upon to remember especially in times of temptation to exercise meekness, temperance; meaning to express the Spirit of Christ which is love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness – since against such there is no law?
Is it not even more important during the times of great stresses than during calmer circumstances to remain to be filled with the Spirit of God? If we can maintain staying under the cover of His Spirit then we will not sin, because – ‘against behaving in this manner there will be no law’ broken. Gal.5:27.
I think especially in those difficult times of ‘waiting’, we ought to be renewing our resolve to be Christ-like in our thoughts and deeds. And yes, I concur with the lesson writer’s conclusion that, when we trust our heavenly Father to bring about that which is best for us as we continue to conduct our life according to His Spirit, that He will bring about that which is best for us.
But the fact is that only Jesus, and His Holy Spirit can give us any of the traits of "peace, joy, love, etc. and etc.," that are traits of The Holy Spirit. To try to manufacture these traits on our own and especially when in the crucibles is a complete and total "impossibility."