In this fast paced world, patience is a virtue that everyone can benefit from having more of. Not surprisingly, the Bible had a lot to say about patience. Here are a few biblical lessons I’ve learned.
The other day I picked up a friend to go to meeting. And the first thing she said to me was “I need more patience.” My first thought was doesn’t everyone. So naturally I had to look up patience in the Bible. Everything we struggle with in life is in the Bible along with ways to help us with our struggles.
The first scripture I came to was Galatians 6:9 “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” This told me that Patience is required to reap rewards. There is a proper time to reap, but we often lack the patience that is necessary to get there.
Whenever something happens to us or we want something we don’t want to patiently wait for the reward. We want the benefits immediately. It’s the problem of instant gratification.
In life, sometimes the greatest rewards we can get don’t come from immediately after doing the work. We have to be patient in order to get the results.
If you plant a seed but keep uprooting it to check if it’s growing you’ll never get the reward of having a tree.
With that said, we shouldn’t give up so quickly because we aren’t seeing the results in our lives as fast as we wanted.
Perhaps the most important area in our lives is where we must be patient for the rewards we have to wait until the next life to receive. The Bible talks about crowns (rewards we will see in heaven). What we do on earth will have a direct result of life in the heavenly realm. If we grow weary of doing good we will never see our rewards in heaven. We won’t be able to say what Paul said,
“I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge will reward me on that day…“ -2 Timothy 4:7-8
Our reward for having patience is in store for us who keep the faith.
Don’t use patience as an excuse not to act. This is something my pastor said last week that hit me like a ton of bricks. He said people say they are waiting on God. While it is sometimes necessary to wait on God, the Bible indicates it may be us who need to act first.
I heard a story a long time ago about waiting for a sign. It’s about a man who was stuck out at sea waiting for God to save him. While he was waiting 3 boats passed by him and offered to help but he said “No thanks.” I’m waiting for God to save me.” Eventually, he died and went go heaven, he asked God “Why didn’t you save me?” God told him I tried. I sent 3 boats your way.
We can find ourselves in life waiting for God in order to take the next step. We say we are being patient when in reality it’s us that need to move. Like the man stuck at sea, we may have a specific expectation of how God is going to work things out and so we ignore the sign he places right before us,
In 2 Kings 5:1-17, we learn that Naaman almost missed his healing because he expected the prophet to do it a certain way. Only after being convinced by his servant to obey the instruction that he gave. We learn from this that we always need go be open to God. If we are being led in a certain direction, even though it doesn’t fit our expectations it’s important to remember it may be God showing you the next step. Don’t continue to wait on God when He is waiting on you.
There are also areas in our lives when we are patiently waiting for God to give us the power to do something. We may be saying we’re patiently waiting on God when it’s something he already gave us the power to do.
It’s like waiting patiently waiting to be blessed with money when God has given us the ability to produce wealth, or patiently waiting for God to heal us when we just need to eat healthier.
Be patient when going through trials. Romans 12:12 says, “Rejoice in hope. Be patient trouble, and keep praying. We all experience trials in life and while they are not pleasant the Bible teaches us to patiently endure them. Which is difficult to do, but trials build character.
Patience is required to endure through trials and the Bible says, “Endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.” (Romans 5:4). Being patient through trials helps us to become better people. Each time we patiently endure a trial it helps us to become more patient in general.
It helps me when I’m going through a trial to ask God what He wants to teach me. It helps me stay focused on God and not the trial.
James (Jacob) 1:2-3 says, “Count it all, joy, my brothers (and sisters), when you fall into various temptations.” When God tests our faith it produces perseverance.
There are some things that God says He will handle and we shouldn’t do them because we aren’t patient with Him. The world likes to tell us to get angry and seek vengeance. And we are seeing a lot of that these days. But Romans 12:19 tells us “Don’t seek revenge yourselves, beloved, but give place to God’s wrath. For it is written, Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, says the Lord.”
When we see the wicked seemingly getting away with wrongdoing against us or our loved ones we may feel like God isn’t acting fast enough. But we are to be patient with God because in the end justice will be served righteously.
Based on our own understanding we may think God isn’t moving fast enough. God’s wisdom surpasses ours and we should patiently trust Him when it comes to His promises.
“The Lord is not slow in keeping His promises, as some understand slowness. Instead, He is patient with patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” – 2 Peter 3:9
God has a purpose for everything He does. So be patient and “trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” ( Proverbs 3:5-6).
From Pity to Praise 