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“A man who is master of patience is master of everything else”

I suspect many of us have trouble being patient. It doesn’t come easily. Maybe you’ve prayed “Lord, give me patience and please hurry up. I don’t have time to wait for it patiently. I need it right now”.

Let’s define patience. It is the “exhibiting of calm endurance of pain, difficulty, provocation, or annoyance”. So, patience goes way beyond just enduring annoying people without losing your temper. It includes perseverance in the face of hardship, difficulty or persecution. Some translations of the Bible such as the King James Version and the New King James Version render the Greek word for patience as “longsuffering”. And that probably gives us a better understanding of the depth of its meaning. (Colossians 1:11 & Ephesians 4:2)

God uses all types of circumstances to work on our patience to prepare us for what lies ahead. One commentator described patience as “love on trial”

Scripture Tells Us God is a Patient God

1. Exodus 34:1─7

2. Psalm 86

3. 2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance”.

The words “slow to anger” come out of the Greek translations to the Hebrew Bible as macrothymia. This means God is not hot-tempered. He is slow to anger. For centuries He has put up with human sin and rebellion, yet sticks to His promises, and is merciful to His people. He was patient with Adam and Eve, although firm in His dealings with them. He was patient with Noah and his generation, postponing the Flood until all hope of repentance was past.

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God was very patient with the children of Israel. Over and over, they murmured against Him, disobeyed His commandments, and worshipped other gods. He disciplined them but did not cast them off. He went on loving them in spite of their sin.

William Barclay wrote “If God had been a man, he would have long ago taken his hand and, with a gesture, would have wiped out the world, but in his patience he bears with the sins and follies and the disobedience of me” (p198 New Testament Words).

(Patience is a virtue – Part 2)