A Patent for Patience
According to the Bible, patience can take two forms. The active form of patience is steadfastness; the passive form of patience is waiting—and both are surely needed by Christians today!
There will be those times when we will want to call a halt to our efforts. And there will be other times when we will want to cease our waiting. Why?
It's because that which we’ve been working hard for, or that which we’ve waited so long for, seems nowhere in sight.
Given the fact that no Christian goes through life without having his or her patience tried, James S. Stewart wrote:
We all get our share of this: the cutting edge of sorrow; the wear and tear of tasks beyond our strength; the discipline of adversity, of frustration, of hopes indefinitely deferred; the discipline of fierce temptation. Many a time, under such experience, faith flinches and endurance breaks.
This is bound to occur if the patience exercised is natural and not supernatural in its origin and operation.
Patience actually means to rely on the divine supply. It is the decision to keep faith on the job.
To better grasp this picture, patience can be depicted this way.
Picture over yonder the stacked-up blessings of God, each with your name on it. This, we shall say, represents grace, the realm of God’s promises.
Now picture your present circumstances—each situation, each relationship, each achievement as things currently stand. Is there anything lacking?
No doubt, there is! The gap between your present life and God’s promised life is huge!
Even though God said that he will do exceedingly, abundantly, above all you ask or think, there is so much you have wished for that hasn’t yet come true.
There is a reason for this.
According to Romans 4:16 and Romans 5:2, the only way to access grace is by crossing the bridge of faith.
Indeed, no other bridge—the bridge of brilliance, the bridge of hard work, the bridges of fortune and human favor, the bridge of networking—can't possibly get you there.
The biggest problem with faith is that sense and sight so thoroughly disagree with it! And these two surveyors of reality can be so convincing!
Therefore, you’re tempted to pursue what is reasonable, and not what is biblical.
Patience, if we were to attempt to depict it graphically, can be represented by all those pillars under the faith bridge. Now, while it is true that only faith can lay hold of grace, it is also true that nothing is going to be gained unless patience holds up faith.
If the pillars of patience give way, the bridge of faith will crumble—and therefore grace will remain out of reach.
Tertullian used a different metaphor to show the connection between faith and patience. Writing in the third century, Tertullian said, “Faith is patience with the lamp lit.”
The message this metaphor conveys is that patience doesn’t require us to stand against the dark with determination but no revelation.
God has shed his light, the truths of which will help us prevail!
Thomas Watson, the great Puritan preacher, said, “Faith argues the soul into patience.” It redirects those instincts and impulses that would have hurt us and grieved God. And at the same time, it invigorates the boldness needed to obtain from God at his throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16).
The journey to God’s grace supply often takes time, during which sentiments unhealthy to our faith will begin to surface.
At such times as these, there is a need to cut off the soul’s complaints and to tune in instead to God for direction. It was in this context that Watson said, “Patience opens the ear but shuts the mouth.”
Needing to be shut down is the “get-it-now-anyhow” message. Needing to be heard is the “if-you-wait-it-will-be-great” message.
James 1:4 describes what God, through our patience, can contribute when it says: “But let patience have its perfect work that you may be perfect and complete lacking nothing.”
If someone were to say to you, “I have a key that will unlock the door to all your dreams, a key that will unlock all those doors that have kept you from requisitioning what God promised,” would you want that key?
Surely, you would!
But maybe you’d draw back, thinking that this is one of those get-rich-quick schemes.
Well, patience, by definition, isn’t very quick. Nevertheless, this is the key that will unlock the door to a treasure house of stupendous blessings.
And it is precisely because patience is the one key that works, casting this key away makes no sense!
What does make sense is exercising a steadfast reliance upon God—because when we wait, he works!
But if we decide to take matters into our own hands, then he’ll wait and we’ll work—hard! Hellishly hard! And for what? For something much less than what God gives!
The patent for patience points in another direction.
Keep faith on the job.
Rely on the divine supply.
Look for the light that reveals.
Open your ears to what God reveals.
Shut your mouth when murmurings might be muttered.
Stay on the bridge of faith.
Upon reviewing these reminders, is there one of these that speaks to you today?
Maybe that's the one you should speak to God about today.
