Tag Archives: Develop patience

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Don’t Get In A Hurry

Be Still … It Still Works

PREVIEW: God’s plans for you, his purposes for the people in your life, his timing in your circumstances, and his design for bringing about justice and vindication in the world around you are in his control—not yours, nor mine. And though frustrating at times, we truly ought to be thankful for that, since we have been spared from the very judgment we long to be poured out on this rotten old world. As the old saying goes, “God may be slow, but he is never late!

“God may be slow, but he is never late!” —Ray Noah

A Journey of Worship // Psalm 46:10

Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.

Patience is a virtue that defines us as Christian. Patience is one of the character qualities of Christ and, therefore, one that we, too, are called to exercise. The Apostle Paul speaks of patience as one of nine fruits in his list of the fruit of the Spirit.

And, perhaps out of those nine, patience is the most difficult to cultivate in our lives. Arguably, it is more difficult than love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control (well, maybe not self-control). We are easily irritated with people; we get frustrated with ourselves; we fret over circumstances; we are especially impatient with God.

Phillips Brooks, a nineteenth-century New England preacher, was well known for his poise and quiet manner, but at times, suffered moments of frustration and irritability. One day he was feverishly pacing the floor like a caged lion, and someone asked him, “What’s the trouble, Mr. Brooks?”

He said, “The trouble is that I’m in a hurry, but God isn’t!”

Perhaps that’s the greatest frustration of all! We don’t like God’s timing! We get irritated with his slowness! We think he should do things the way we want, and when we want!

When I was a kid, there was an old saint in our church who was fond of saying, “God may be slow, but he’s never late.” That bit of old country wit was not only sound theology; it was sage advice!

God’s plans for you, his purposes for the people in your life, his timing in your circumstances, and his design for bringing about justice and vindication in the world around you are in his control—not yours, nor mine. And though frustrating at times, we truly ought to be thankful for that since we have been spared from the very judgment we long to be poured out on this rotten old world.

This psalm speaks of that time when God will intervene in this world to defend his honor and vindicate his people. But until then, we are called to practice patience—with our circumstances and with God’s timing. We are to be still, trust that God is God, and in due time, he will make the way things ought to be clear to the whole world.

Until then, practicing patience in the daily ordinariness of our lives is really a matter of trust and obedience. And if for no other reason, we ought to develop it since our impatience won’t hurry God’s timing one second.

My Offering of Worship: If you are impatient, become accountable for it with another believer. If you are like me, you know the areas where you tend to be most impatient. Maybe you are quick-tempered with the people around you. Maybe you’re filled with worry or wrestling with depression or anxious about the future. Maybe your impatience is with God because a healing hasn’t occurred, a deliverance hasn’t come, an answer hasn’t materialized. Whatever it is, become accountable for it with a brother or sister in Christ. James 5 says, “Admit your faults to one another, and pray for each other so you can be healed.” Because it is so natural to fall into impatience without realizing it, and it is so easy to justify, you will need someone to hold you accountable for it.

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Redemptive Patience

Try Enjoying Your Trials

SYNOPSIS: Benjamin Franklin said, “those things that hurt, instruct.” In review of the growth in your life, you have probably found that to be true, as I have. The best lessons in life have come from the things we wouldn’t have chosen for ourselves: a failure on a test, the break-up of a romance, the loss of a job, the denial of a dream. Of course, at every one of life’s speedbumps there is a choice either to get bitter or to get better. It all depends on our response to these difficulties. If we choose the better route of patiently and joyfully enduring our trials, God promises to give us maturity, wisdom, lasting riches, eternal reward, and a variety of other divine gifts. So, if you’re going through a trial, think about this spiritual principle: bad happens to me so that good things can happen in me so that eternal things can happen through me.

Project 52—Memorize:
James 1:2-3

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

Benjamin Franklin said, “those things that hurt, instruct.” In review of the growth in your life, you have probably found that to be true, as I have. The best lessons in life have come from the things we wouldn’t have chosen for ourselves: a failure on a test, the break-up of a romance, the loss of a job, the denial of a dream.

Of course, at every one of life’s speedbumps there is a choice either to get bitter or to get better. It all depends on our response to these difficulties. If we choose the better route of patiently and joyfully enduring our trials, here are a few of the God-ordained growth outcomes that James mentions:

  • Maturity—Verses 2-4: Patiently and redemptively enduring trials takes us through a cycle from pain to patience to perfection.
  • Wisdom—Verses 5-8: Painful trials always cause us to scratch our heads and seek guidance for a way forward. For the believer, this is always an opportunity to go to God—through prayer, by his Word, and through his people—to ask for wisdom. And God will always give it in liberal amounts.
  • True Riches—Verses 9-11: Trials have a way of reminding both poor and rich that wealth and material things are fleeting, but our relationship with God isn’t. When everything else fades from view, the true richness of belonging to God is all the more appreciated.
  • Eternal Reward— Verses 12-15: Patience in suffering will be rewarded with the crown of life on the day we stand in eternity before God. This life will soon pass, and eternal life will begin. Enduring suffering for a season—even if it is an entire season of life—will seem like a blip on the radar a billion years into our eternal life. Bad happens to me so that good things can happen in me so that eternal things can happen through me.
  • Sundry Gifts— Verses 16-18: Suffering redemptively also has a way of helping us to appreciate the variety of God’s gifts that we might otherwise overlook. We become much more sensitive to life, and thus, much more grateful to God.

Suffering is never much fun. No one in his or her right mind would purposely choose it. But when pain finds us, if we dedicate ourselves to going through it redemptively, the reward will be the joy of our spiritual transformation.

“Don’t you realize that someday you won’t have anything to try you, or anyone to annoy you again?  There will be no opportunity in heaven to learn or to show the spirit of patience…If you are to practice patience, it must be now.” ~A.B. Simpson

Reflect and Apply:  Take a moment to thank God for those things that you have suffered—or are currently suffering. They hurt, but better yet, they have been instructive. They are helping you, causing you to move closer to the Father., who is standing by you, sustaining, strengthening and perfecting your character.  For that, you can, in faith, express heartfelt gratitude.

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What Are You Waiting For?

In Your Wait, God Is At Work

When the Sovereign Lord planned each of your days, even before you were born, his plan permitted unpleasant people and undesirable circumstances to be included in some of those days. Why? To develop in you something very special to him: the fruit of patience. Learn to embrace the things that try your patience, because there will be no opportunity in heaven to learn it.

The Journey// Focus: Genesis 41:1,14-15

Another two full years passed while Joseph languished in prison, then Pharaoh has a dream. … Pharaoh sent for Joseph at once, and he was quickly brought from the prison. After he shaved and changed his clothes, he went in and stood before Pharaoh. Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I had a dream last night, and no one here can tell me what it means. But I have heard that when you hear about a dream you can interpret it.”

Another two years passed. Joseph had already been in prison for years—due to no fault of his own. Now there had come a glimmer of hope in Genesis 40 when he had accurately interpreted the dreams of two fellow prisoners—officials of Pharaoh—that they would be released. His only request was that they would remember him when there were out, and speak kindly of him so that he too, could be released. They didn’t. They promptly forgot.

And it would seem, behind their forgetfulness was the forgetfulness of God. Why would God allow this righteous man to languish for another two years in a fetid Egyptian prison? Why?

Why—that is the question we all have at some point in our walk of faith. And since an adequate answer to that question is likely to escape our finite understanding, it is important that we grow in patience, trust,and expectancy as we await the fulfillment of God’s plan for our lives. We know that, of course, but it is much easier said than done. Nevertheless, let me remind us again today of why you and I must develop these virtues in our faith journey.

James, the first leader of the church, wrote, “Consider it pure joy whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (James 1:2-4)

Whatever is lacking in your life right now, patience, along with trust and expectancy, is what will bring it to you!

The nineteenth-century preacher A. B. Simpson said it this way: “Beloved, have you ever thought that someday you will not have anything to try you, or anyone to vex you again? There will be no opportunity in heaven to learn or to show the spirit of patience…If you are to practice these things, it must be now.”

M. H. Lount wrote, “best gifts come slowly…growth and strength in waiting are results often greater than the end so impatiently longed for.”

God’s first concern for our lives is our growth, not our gratification. That’s why he often withholds what we would prefer and allows us to experience long-term difficulty until we have learned to fully trust him. Again, that requires industrial-strength patience.

It is said that Joseph Hayden wrote a musical piece in which the flute player did not play a note until the 75th measure. And then, that flute player had only one note to play. On that 75th measure, on the upbeat, the flute player was to play that one and only note. And that was it. One of the flute players in the Boston Symphony said, “When Hayden wrote that musical piece, he had a very special, patient person in mind.”

When the Sovereign Lord, whom the Bible says has ordered every one of your days, even before one of them came into existence, saw fit to allow unpleasant people or undesirable circumstances to be a part of your life, he had you, a very special and potentially patient, trusting, expectant person in mind.

That is the process by which God shapes your life. So how can you learn to work with God in a way that allows him to transform you into an instrument of usefulness? Let me suggest three things:

Pray: Begin the process of growing in patience by simply asking God for it. God, the core of whose very character is patience, is the source of it. In James 1:2-3 we’re taught that the end result of the patience process is wisdom. And what does James say about wisdom? That if any of us lacks it we should ask God for it because he will give it generously.

So if he will supply the wisdom generously, we can back up in the process to ask for the patience as well, and expect to receive it. We simply and boldly need to ask for patience.

Evaluate: What are the areas where you tend to be most impatient. Perhaps it happens to be with how you respond to your family or maybe the people you work with would say you’re a short-tempered person. Maybe you are not considering the trials in your life with pure joy; you are not giving perseverance a chance to develop character; you are not appreciating that character tempered by patience is what produces Biblical hope in you. Or maybe you are impatient with God’s timing in your life.

Identify your top two or three areas of impatience, and then get some help with them. Enter into accountability with someone who will hold your feet to the fire in terms of your behavior, who will give you the words of encouragement needed to stay patient, and will faithfully pray for you as you go through the process.

Reflect: Practice the discipline of remembering and reflecting when you are tempted to be impatient. When you are about to fly off the handle remember how patient and long-suffering God has been with you. Make a study of and memorize as many of the verses on impatience and anger as you can, like Proverbs 29:11, “A stupid man gives free reign to his anger, but a wise man waits and lets it grow cool.” Soak in God’s truth until it gets into the very fabric of your being.

When you are getting weary of waiting, reflect on the purpose of God in your circumstance: that he is bringing you to maturity, and the vehicle that will get you there is patience. Reflect on Romans 5:3-5 which says, “Suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character hope. And hope does not disappoint us.”

Give intentional effort to the practice of patience. If you will, you will grow in trust of God. And when you have developed trust, you will ultimately experience the redeemed realization of all that you expect.

Going Deeper: Patience…trust…expectation. Reframe your thinking and start thanking God for every opportunity to exhibit these eternal qualities.

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Redemptive Patience

Reflect:
James 1:2-3

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

Benjamin Franklin said, “those things that hurt, instruct.” In review of the growth in your life, you have probably found that to be true, as I have. The best lessons in life have come from the things we wouldn’t have chosen for ourselves: a failure on a test, the break-up of a romance, the loss of a job, the denial of a dream.

Of course, at every one of life’s speedbumps there is a choice either to get bitter or to get better. It all depends on our response to these difficulties. If we choose the better route of patiently and joyfully enduring our trials, here are a few of the God-ordained growth outcomes that James mentions:

  • Maturity—Verses 2-4: Patiently and redemptively enduring trials takes us through a cycle from pain to patience to perfection.
  • Wisdom—Verses 5-8: Painful trials always cause us to scratch our heads and seek guidance for a way forward. For the believer, this is always an opportunity to go to God—through prayer, by his Word, and through his people—to ask for wisdom. And God will always give it in liberal amounts.
  • True Riches—Verses 9-11: Trials have a way of reminding both poor and rich that wealth and material things are fleeting, but our relationship with God isn’t. When everything else fades from view, the true richness of belonging to God is all the more appreciated.
  • Eternal Reward— Verses 12-15: Patience in suffering will be rewarded with the crown of life on the day we stand in eternity before God. This life will soon pass, and eternal life will begin. Enduring suffering for a season—even if it is an entire season of life—will seem like a blip on the radar a billion years into our eternal life. Bad happens to me so that good things can happen in me so that eternal things can happen through me.
  • Sundry Gifts— Verses 16-18: Suffering redemptively also has a way of helping us to appreciate the variety of God’s gifts that we might otherwise overlook. We become much more sensitive to life, and thus, much more grateful to God.

Suffering is never much fun. No one in his or her right mind would purposely choose it. But when pain finds us, if we dedicate ourselves to going through it redemptively, the reward will be the joy of our spiritual transformation.

“Don’t you realize that someday you won’t have anything to try you, or anyone to annoy you again? There will be no opportunity in heaven to learn or to show the spirit of patience…If you are to practice patience, it must be now.” ~A.B. Simpson

Reflect and Apply: Take a moment to thank God for those things that you have suffered—or are currently suffering. They hurt, but better yet, they have been instructive. They are helping you, causing you to move closer to the Father., who is standing by you, sustaining, strengthening and perfecting your character. For that, you can, in faith, express heartfelt gratitude.