Patience
“God makes a promise – faith believes it, hope anticipates it, patience quietly awaits it.”
Not many quietly await anything in the world today. It is hard to have faith and therefore hope in the often broken promises of men. That almost goes without saying. Solomon, however, did say as much. “Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a bad tooth and a foot out of joint” (Proverbs 25:19).
Putting our faith in God in times of trouble is another matter altogether. King David wrote, “Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.” “Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.” (Psalm 37:3,7) To rest in the Lord means to be still, knowing that He only, is God. Patience quietly awaits God’s promises. Even though we see the wicked taking what they want in their corrupt scheming, we can leave the whole matter of our concern with God without being anxious as to the result, because He sees it all.
Christ, the righteous judge, observes both the patient and the impulsive. “Who, ‘will render to each one according to his deeds’: eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek.” (Romans 2:6–9).
Consider the wisdom of Solomon. “The end of a thing is better than its beginning; The patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit” (Ecclesiastes 7:8). We can rightly conclude that the proud or arrogant in spirit lose sight of the end goal and fail. We can also conclude that developing patience as part of our character will help us always keep the end in sight. It is helping to perfect our minds so that we cannot be swayed away from God.
Concerning the trying times ahead, Christ said, “By your patience possess your souls” (Luke 21:19). The word translated as patience here means cheerful or hopeful endurance. Believing as we do and hoping as we do leads to patience. Of this verse, Gill’s Commentary says this: “By patiently bearing all afflictions, reproaches, indignities, and persecutions, enjoy yourselves; let nothing disturb or distress you; possess that peace and joy in your souls, which the world cannot take away.”
“God makes a promise, faith believes it, hope anticipates it, patience quietly awaits it.”
Marshall Stiver
