A Lecture to Myself on Patience

If ever there was a blog post that is simply a lecture to myself, this is definitely it. I have been aware of a growing impatience within me, convicted by it, and praying that God would equip me to choose a different response, especially with my kids. Well, God met me in a clear way in His Word via our Sunday service. It was one of those moments for me in which I could only respond, “Yes, there is a God, He just spoke to me, and I need to obey.” The encounter through His Word and His preacher was clear, and I feel constrained to document it for myself because this is obviously a sermon on which I need to meditate long and hard. I have basically transcribed a major portion of our Sunday sermon by Rev. Andy Pelander. You can also listen to it here.

James 5:7-11 Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door. As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.

You don’t have to teach impatience. We are born professionals at impatience. It’s 2nd nature; we don’t even realize we are doing it. We recognize impatience in children but not so well in ourselves. However impatience is not something we outgrow. It actually intensifies with age. But James has something in mind far more deadly than mere childhood impatience or even our grown up versions of getting annoyed at long lines at Starbucks or slow drivers blocking the lane in front of us. James is talking about impatience with God. My impatience with others actually has a direct correlation with my impatience with God, and it is this root impatience on which we should examine ourselves.

Impatience is the subtle drive behind a lot of other overt behavior—irritability, resentment, cynicism. Our impatience with mundane things is really about impatience with God. We live in a world where cynicism, denial, anger, and loss of hope are very understandable responses because the world is not as it should be. But impatience, cynicism, and denial will kill us. You can’t enjoy what you DO have simply because of what you DON’T have. You can’t thank God for what He has done for you because you are so aware of what He has not yet done. We fault God because He promises unimaginable things on His timetable instead of providing predictable things on our timetable. So we wait impatiently for God to provide less than what He intends to. We wait for improvement when what He wants to give us is newness.

Patience is not just another moral suggestion. It’s not a simple call to Christian niceness. It’s part of cultivating growth. Patience can be practiced and valued eternally, but impatience is unsustainable. Patience is good, and it doesn’t deplete resources. Impatience destroys us, steels joy, and depletes relationships. Impatience only wins against your own long-term spiritual and emotional health. It doesn’t fix any problem and instead depletes you of joy and peace.

Impatience comes from knowing the world is not as it SHOULD be. But patience flows from knowing it is also not as it WILL be. Patience is cultivated by living in light of a long view of things regardless of what you can see in the moment. Without the long view dominating how we interpret our circumstances, we just bob along the surface controlled by superficial circumstances instead of being anchored to a deeper story that gives context to the every day life.

Romans 8:24-28 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Patience is minding the gap between life as God promises and life as we experience it; between what is seen verses what is unseen; between what we believe verses what we feel. Patience is waiting for the harvest. It's steadfastness. It's keeping calm and carrying on. Impatience is restlessness or irritability. It’s being easily flustered.

God’s call to patience is an invitation to dependency on Him. With each temporary frustration, we are tempted to choose self-pity instead of leaning into God’s grace. Patience is an invitation to grace; an invitation to avail ourselves of His grace and mercy to equip us to endure for the long haul until He makes everything right. And leaning into Him is key to experiencing it. It is after all a fruit of the Spirit. Apart from Him, we can do nothing, especially patiently wait for Him to reconcile all things to Himself.