Learning Patience the Hard Way // Becoming an Overnight Success, Part 7

You’ve heard that saying, haven’t you – Dear God, give me patience … NOW! It’d be really, really nice if we could learn patience instantly. In fact it’d be even better if we didn’t need to learn it at all. But sadly, when it comes to setbacks and delays, trials and temptations, there’s really only one way to learn patience … and that’s the hard way.

To be honest with you patience is perhaps the hardest lesson that I have had to learn since giving my life to Jesus a good many years ago now, THE hardest lesson! I'm just not a patient kind of guy, I think quickly, I act quickly, I even walk quickly, yeah I'm one of those people. Of course there's an upside to having that sort of personality type, the upside is that I get a lot done, the upside is that if you need someone to crash through some brick walls then I'm your man and yes we need some people in the mix who are like that but the downside is that I can be very impatient. Impatient with circumstances, with people and with God and when God gets someone like me to deal with then you can bet your bottom dollar that He is going to give me some extra tuition in this whole area of patience, hallelujah, thank you Jesus.

You see I don't get why the guy driving in the car in front of me sensing that the light is going to change in just a few seconds doesn't put his foot down just that little bit so that he and I can both cross over the white line before the light turns orange. Now I'm not asking him to speed, I just want him to think about my time that he's wasting and just nudge the accelerator pedal just that little bit. And when he doesn't do that I simply don't get that. And what I really, really, really, really want to do is to express my displeasure by slamming down on the horn long and loud and there are many times, irrespective of the makeup of our personalities, when we don't get why God has to delay things or if it's not Him delaying them why He doesn't just crash through it for us and make it happen, whatever 'it' happens to be. And can I tell you? The most difficult time to be impatient is when you're hurting, when you're experiencing pain, I mean even I have learned to be patient when I'm not in pain. All I have to do is give up on the plans that I had for the time that from my perspective is now going to waste because of whatever delay I happen to be facing. It's not that easy, it still isn't easy but I can learn that.

What's really hard though is to be patient when you're suffering in a difficult relationship perhaps or under a difficult boss at work or through ill health. I mean ill health is really tough because when you're in real physical pain compounded by mental anguish patience, well it ain't that easy to come by. So let me ask you exactly what is patience? Well my dictionary tells me that it's 'the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, problems or suffering without becoming annoyed or anxious'. That's a pretty good definition don't you think, patience is the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, problems or suffering with becoming annoyed or anxious.

You see this quality of patience, this issue of depth of character is not something we seem to place all that much value on in a world that expects overnight success and instant gratification but you and I know that it's really, really important because when the chips are down, when things are stacked against us, when our plans are thwarted, when we're suffering pain or loss, unless we have the capacity to tolerate those without becoming annoyed or anxious then we're going to become, well annoyed or anxious or even worse. We start behaving badly, we start doing stupid things, we start hurting other people, damaging relationships and pretty much ruining our lives. You've been there, you've been there, I've been there so how do we get patience, how do we learn patience when we're in that caldron of delay and suffering?

I want to share with you today a Scripture that is jam-packed full of incredible wisdom. These three verses punch way above their weight, are you ready? Psalm 37 verses 7 to 9:

Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him. Do not fret over those who prosper in their way, over those who carry out evil devices, refrain from anger and forsake wrath. Do not fret, it leads only to evil for the wicked shall be cut off but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land.

Do you want to know how to get patience? Well there it is. First be still, stop flapping around like a chicken with its head cut off, stop complaining, stop sobbing, stop carrying on, just shut up for a minute and be still and wait patiently for God. The original Hebrew word for waiting used there literally talks of a woman in labour, suffering the pain but waiting, pushing, believing that the child is about to be born. It's a great picture isn't it, for what we're going through when we're suffering? So stop screaming, stop yelling, wait without fretting. Stop looking at all those evil people over there who seem to be prospering and forget your anger and your desire to take vengeance because if you spend your time thinking about revenge, if you keep fretting over your dilemma it's going to only lead you to evil, you're going to do something bad or stupid because here's the promise; those who wait, a different word used here now for 'wait' in verse 9, it means to wait expectantly on the Lord, to expect Him to do something good.

The promise is that those who wait expectantly on God, expecting Him to act will, WILL inherit the land, the Promised Land, the promises of God. I told you these few verses punch way above their weight. Grab a Bible and spend some time in them, think about them, pray about them and then start living them, Psalm 37 verses 7 to 9.

When we're suffering, when we're delayed, when things have gone awry, thrashing around, complaining, behaving badly, exacting revenge, none of those things are going to do you any good, they're only going to lead you to evil and God cuts the wicked off. But choosing in that difficult place instead to wait expectantly on God, to put your trust in Him, even though you are going through great pains that is the one thing that will help you lay hold of Gods promises.

Let me tell you, God is going to keep you there and God is going to bring you back to that place again and again and again until you learn that lesson because He wants you to trust Him through every difficult circumstance.

I've never heard someone come back from a three-week luxury holiday and say, “man, you know, God really grew my character, God really developed my stamina and endurance over that holiday.” Maybe God gave you a much needed rest, a much needed refreshment over the holiday but your character is only developed in the heat of the battle, your character is only refined and made pure and strong in the furnace of life. And God isn't doing this in order to be sadistic, your pain hurts Him as much as it hurts you because He loves you, He feels your pain more acutely than you might have ever had imagined. No He's doing this for a purpose, see He's wanting to give you something so precious that He's prepared to let you suffer for it. Here it is Hebrews chapter 12 verses 11 and 12:

Look discipline always seems painful rather than pleasant at the time but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore lift up your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees and make straight the paths for your feet so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather healed.

The peaceful fruit of righteousness – Because when we start living in the righteousness, the goodness, the right way of living rather than the wrong way of living, when we learn these hard lessons and start living in wisdom that we discover through those fiery trials, we develop a peaceful fruit in our lives, the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

Think about it, when we've developed the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, problems or suffering without becoming annoyed or anxious what we have in those times instead is peace. That's what God wants to give you - peace.