Patience. We all need more, but we don’t want to wait.
In our fast-paced, “microwave” culture, we want our food fast and our Internet faster. We don’t want to wait in line, sit in traffic, or wait for an answer to prayer. How often do we pray once and give up when our prayer is not immediately answered? It would do us well to remember that anything worth having is worth waiting for.
When we’re put in circumstances where patience is required, we sometimes find ourselves bailing out in frustration and disappointment—without learning the needed lessons and, regrettably, well before we enjoy the fruit of standing steadfast and unwavering in the window between the request and the response. When we do that, all we get in the end is “survival” without the precious fruit of growth in our lives.
The writer of Hebrews encourages us to press on—all the way through to the promise! Hebrews 6:12, “We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.” And in Hebrews 10:35-36 it says, 35 Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise.”
The prophet Habakkuk (Hab 2:3) said, “For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.” God’s timing is perfect – delayed does not mean denied!
Scripture says of Joseph that, “Until the time that his word came to pass, the word of the LORD tested him.” (Psalm 105:19) The story of Joseph would have had a very different ending indeed if he hadn’t had perseverance worked into his character. He held a deep resolve that God would help him accomplish all that He had purposed and promised for his life.
While we wait for the salvation of close friends or family members, let’s continue to trust God at His word. The promise of Acts 16:31 remains: “…you and your household shall be saved.” While we wait for breakthrough in an area of our life, we must, as James 1:4 declares, “…let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”
Let us rest in the waiting—not passively—but actively seeking God regarding His purpose for the waiting and for His enabling ability in the process. Strength to endure probably won’t manifest in full-color visions or an audible voice from heaven. Instead, it comes in a quiet deposit of a strengthening faith and deepening knowledge of the trustworthiness of God. He thinks good thoughts towards each one of us and has a wonderfully good plan for our lives. We can trust Him and His infinite and unfailing goodness to see us through in power and in strength. The other side of faithful and patient waiting contains a promise and a great reward—the fruit of patience (Galatians 5) worked into our character—we can’t achieve it any other way! There is hope and purpose in the waiting!