Being a kid is hard sometimes. As a kid, I really didn’t like waiting on stuff, whether it was for dinner to be ready, or school to be out at the end of the day, or summer to get here, and the list goes on. Waiting was not my cup of joe. But my mom always told me, “Patience is a virtue.” As if a 7-year-old knows what a virtue is. Nevertheless, my mom always reverted back to that saying whenever my brother or I grew impatient. Unfortunately, as I’ve grown up, I’ve learned that patience doesn’t necessarily get easier. We live in a “right now” society ruled by immediate gratification. If we can’t get what we want now, then what’s the point? Over the past year or so, I think everyone has learned just how hard patience can be. We had to wait for lockdowns to be over, for a vaccine to be created, and now for the vaccine to be administered, and for it to be effective. I hope and pray we are nearing the end of this pandemic with this vaccine.
But as hard as it is, the Bible is full of people that had to wait on things. Abraham and Sarah had to wait to have Isaac. The Israelites had to wait in slavery in Egypt for God to send Moses to free them. David had to wait to become king of Israel. Jonah had to wait in the belly of the fish for God to deliver Him. Daniel had to wait in the lion’s den. Hebrews 11, the famous chapter on faith, tells of numerous people in the Bible that were waiting for God’s long-awaited Messiah that they never even got to see come because they didn’t live long enough. Patience is listed as the fourth fruit of the Spirit. All of this is to say that patience goes a long way in becoming who God wants us to be. If we are always given what we ask for when we ask for it, how do we become like Jesus? Jesus had to wait 30 years just to be able to begin his ministry. Up until then, he worked with his father in the family trade. Here’s a fun fact I learned in college: While tradition says that Jesus was a carpenter, there is more evidence that he was a stonemason. Do with that information what you will. Back to the topic. Waiting has always been a part of the human experience, as much as we really don’t like it.
But as hard as patience is, we are not without a God that exercises patience as well. God the father showed patience with the Israelites in the desert when they repeatedly tried to look back to Egypt. Jesus continually showed patience with his disciples when they just didn’t understand who He was or what He could do. But through those processes, Israel and the disciples grew into who God/Jesus wanted them to be. One of my favorite passages on God’s patience, 2 Peter 3:9 tells us, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (NIV) God is patient with each of us, and all of the human race. He wants us all to repent and follow Him. That isn’t going to happen, however, without patience. I think the most amazing things in life are worth waiting, most of all the salvation of the lost. We are told in Luke 15 that the angels in heaven rejoice more over 1 sinner who repents than over 99 righteous people that need not repent.
I have no doubt that you want this pandemic to be over and everything to be back to normal, and it seems like we’re slowly getting there. However, allow this (hopefully) final stretch of waiting to be fruitful for you. Allow people to see how patient you are in a time when it’s easy to get antsy about the end of all the mask mandates and social distancing. I was on a zoom call the other day with a few people, including my high school youth pastor who is now the youth pastor at a church in Indiana. She said that their governor has lifted all mask mandates and everything. The end is in sight. We need only wait a little longer. That being said, however, let us not lax in our prayers for those still fighting this. They need prayer now as much as ever. Be it the leaders of this state or country, the medical personnel in the hospitals, as well as those that have tested positive. I firmly believe in the power of prayer and think it is a strong weapon to bring an end to this pandemic.
“Better is the end of a thing than its beginning, and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.” -Ecclesiastes 7:8 ESV
