Patience

by Thomas Miles
Published April 30, 2005

One of the most difficult things for people to do is — WAIT! Patience seems to be lost in today’s world. To wait means to remain or rest in expectation of something. Having patience means you have the ability to bear hardship, trouble, or difficulty without grumbling. Patience stresses peace, discipline, and a readiness to accept interruptions. To have patience means to be long-suffering. Long-suffering means to have lasting and calm endurance. Life today is any thing but long-suffering.

We have great difficulty in waiting for things. We do things quickly. We have fast food, fast banking, and electronic mail and still we lack patience. We want it now. A minute ago was not good enough. A few nanoseconds to many of us now seem like minutes. We just cannot wait for things! Why wasn’t it done yesterday?! Why is it taking so long?!

Does this sound like your life? Whether we like to believe it or not, most of us lack patience! We even want God given to us quickly. We don’t want to wait for anything, yet we need to wait upon the Lord for all things. We need to slow down in life. We need to see the beauty that is all around us. The more we trust and wait upon God, the more He will strengthen us.

Psalms 27:14 "Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD."

The Lord is our help. He is our shield, our protection, and our security during troubles. He has given us His Word and told us to wait upon Him. God says He will satisfy our hearts and souls. He will do all things for us. In Him, we will find our rest, strength, and hope.

Psalms 62:5 "My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him."

Psalms 145:15-16 "The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing."

Rejoice, for He has granted us salvation. He has stretched forth His hand to comfort us. He is our protection from all harm. Angels walk before us by His authority. We have the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness and our feet are on solid ground. He has given us all things through Christ Jesus. He only asks that we meditate on Him.

Do you wait upon Him for leadership and guidance? Can you determine in your heart to have more patience? An old proverb goes, "Good things come to those who wait." Lamentations 3:25 says, "The lord is wonderfully good to those who wait for him and seek him."

We need to be steadfast. Steadfast means to have firm determination or resolution. If you are steadfast, you are not shakeable. A steadfast person has firm convictions. A person who is steadfast is unfaltering and capable of waiting in an unwavering manner. The Word of God says that if we will be steadfast we will be "...made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end." (Hebrews 3:14)

Is your life full of fast times? God's Word tells us how great it is to wait, to have patience, to be slow, to tarry, and we need to take His Words to heart. We need to slow down. We need to wait upon God for all things.

Isaiah 25:9 "And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation."

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