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Patience

“How long will our land be dry, and the grass in every field be withered? Animals and birds are dying because of the wickedness of our people, people who say, ‘God doesn’t see what we are doing’.” — Jeremiah 12:4

Impatience Over Injustice

Prophet Jeremiah lived in a situation very much like ours. He was so upset like us by the flourishing wickedness in society. He was scandalized by the continuing prosperity of the workers of iniquity (Jer.12:1-6). And in his desire to cleanse society of such kind of people, he prayed to God, saying: “Drag these evil men away like sheep to be butchered; guard them until it is time for them to be slaughtered”(Jer.12:3). In fact, Prophet Jeremiah was getting a bit impatient with God who does not seem to mind what was happening in the land.

Moments of despair, pain or disappointment may give way to destructive thoughts and evil plans unless by God’s grace they are overcome by long-suffering love. This phrase “long-suffering love” which appears in I Corinthians 13 is translated “patience” in the Revised Standard Version of the Bible.

Patience in the New Testament has at least two meanings: one is the ability to endure, or to stand firm in the face of difficulties and sufferings, to hold on until the end. The other meaning is used in relation to time: to wait faithfully and calmly, trusting that God will bring his purposes to pass, and knowing that to worry about anything will not solve it any quicker.

In the Old Testament, the word patience acquires a deeper meaning when used to describe the nature of God. In Exodus 34, there is a verse that speaks of God as “merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (v.6). Here, the phrase “slow to anger” is a translation of the Hebrew word for patience.

God is all-powerful and can destroy the sinners anytime, but He does not do it because in the words of Exodus, He is slow to anger. He is not in a hurry; He waits for the appointed time.

Patient with Ourselves

To have patience is what the Bible strongly recommends. In the Parable of the Weeds (Mt.13:24-43), for instance, the servants are in a hurry, and they want to pull up the weeds. But the Master is wiser. He advises them to wait until harvest time when they can easily distinguish the good grains from the bad ones.

Jesus is like that. He gives time to repent. How patiently he deals with his disciples. They are sometimes slow and cannot comprehend his words. But Jesus is patient with them.

We need, first of all, to be patient with ourselves. In his Epistle, Peter encourages Christian believers “to grow in grace”(2 Peter 3:18). But it takes time to grow in grace. To be patient is to keep our integrity and subject all our acts to the scrutiny of Christian love. This means we have to do our best, and then wait for the result of our actions.

Patient with Others

Moreover, we need to be patient not only with ourselves, but also with those about us. In I Thessalonians 5:14, Paul admonishes believers “to be patient with them all.” The pronoun them in this verse refer to the weak, the idle, and the fainthearted. To be patient with them can be very trying, and yet this is the test we are exposed everyday.

Corollary to being patient with other people is being patient with the world itself. Because of sin, tensions prevail. Nations rise up against nations. Friends betray friends. Graft and corruption abound in high places. Immorality is rampant, and poverty is in every nook and corner of the land.

In times like this, Psalm 37 is a source of comfort, “Don’t be worried on account of the wicked…Trust in the Lord and do good…Be patient and wait for the Lord to act.” This Psalmist wishes to assure us that history is in God’s hands, that “though the cause of evil prosper, yet ‘tis truth alone is strong,” as the hymn goes. We can trust that in the final reckoning, righteousness will triumph and wickedness shall perish.

Patient with God

Finally, we should be patient not only with ourselves and with other people, but also most especially with our God. It is not because God does not seem to care, but because God knows us more than we know ourselves.

When we get impatient with God, He would remind us that “His ways are not our ways, and that His thoughts are higher than our thoughts” (Isa. 55:8). God has a different view of things in the world. To Him, a thousand years are but a day, and we would do well to look at life with the eye of our faith in Him (cf. Psalms 90:4; 2 Pet. 3:8).

And when we do that, we realize that to be patient with God is actually to be patient with ourselves, with those about us, and with the world itself. We realize that in truth it is God who has been patient with us. God knows the weaknesses of our spirits. He knows the waywardness of our hearts. We cannot hide the impurities of our thoughts, the ugliness of our motives, the wickedness of our ways.

Very often God is afflicted by our willful disobedience to His will, by our slowness of perception. And yet God gives us time, hoping that somehow, someday we would turn a new leaf, give up some of our consuming selfishness and greed, and take up the shield of faith, of humility and love. #

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