I am the poster child of slow learners. Were it not for God’s infinite patience waiting for me to finally learn whatever it is that He is trying to teach me, I would have perished long ago as the natural consequence of my own ignorance. But “Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish [even you slowest of learners, Bruce],”2 Peter 3:9. He continues to be longsuffering until I finally learn to be patient too. Herein is the story of how I have come to see patience to be not just a virtue, but an essential step in learning to trust God in all things.
The best learners (prophets, apostles, and psalmists) can testify from personal experience of the value of patience:
Psalm 40:1
I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry.
Hebrews 6:15
And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.
Psalm 38:15
Lord, I wait for you; you will answer, Lord my God.
Isaiah 64:4
Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.
Therefore, we are admonished to wait for the Lord:
Lamentations 3:24-26
24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”
25 The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;
26 it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.
Psalm 37:7
Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him;
Psalm 27:14
Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.
But here was my starting point:
Job 6:11
“What strength do I have, that I should still hope? What prospects, that I should be patient?
Psalm 119:84
How long must your servant wait?
And so, I was impatient in getting appointments to receive medical treatments, to get MRIs or CT scans, to see evidence of healing, and impatient whenever things did not occur according to my timetable. Basically “Lord, what better time than now for healing to begin!!?” So, what did those well taught prophets, apostles, etc. know that I did not? Well, a lot, but as to the issue at hand, they had learned that patience is the road that leads to trust in God’s Providence. God patiently helped me to see that the time I was spending in waiting to get the scan, see evidence of healing, etc. allowed me to spend that time in prayer, looking for relief from stress in His word, feeling the love of my friends, being inspired by the faithfulness (and patience) of others, and learning that God could be trusted to work all things together for the good in accordance with his will. That takes time to sink into our consciousness, particularly for a slow learner like me. My anxiety and impatience not only impeded my seeing the importance of waiting on the Lord, but it also kept me from seeing that God can be trusted in all things. In other words, all the emotional energy I expended on being anxious was creating “noise” that prevented me from seeing that patience and trust go together to reap the reward God is eager to give us:
Revelation 3:10
Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth.
Isaiah 64:4
Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.
Psalm 33:20
We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield.
Romans 8:25
But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
Thanks be to God for His patience in teaching me patience, for I really needed to apply it many times since I learned that lesson to save myself from a lot of stress and grief from my own hand. Not only that, but I am also now seeing that my patience saves other people from experiencing stress. If I keep emailing and calling people asking them when they are going to do what I want them to do (repair a fence, start and complete a remodel project, give me a pain injection in my back), I am adding stress to their lives. In all these cases I know from experience that these are trustworthy people of goodwill who are trying to help me as soon as they can, while attending to other people whose needs are no less important than mine. God has helped me see the bigger picture here and is including me in the web of blessing He is working out in the lives of all involved. I do not deserve Him to bless me this way but am profoundly grateful He has. I (finally) have learned like the Psalmist the lesson that:
Psalm 130:5
I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope.
Thank you, Lord, for being the longsuffering and trustworthy God of Love that you are for slow learners like me.
