Lord, Give Me Patience

But Could We Hurry This Up?

I have discovered that I am a very patient person. As long as nothing takes too long. I can patiently wait for almost anything provided it happens immediately.

I have prayed the prayer before: “Lord, give me patience.” And apparently what I meant was: “Lord, magically insert patience into my personality without requiring me to actually wait for anything.” Because the moment God gives me an opportunity to practice patience, suddenly I'm offended.

“Lord, this isn't what I asked for.” And I can almost imagine God saying:

“Actually… this is exactly what you asked for.”

We Live in a Hurry-Up World and we have become unbelievably impatient people. The microwave was invented because apparently waiting 45 minutes for food was simply too much to ask of humanity. So now we can heat dinner in three minutes. And what do we do? Stand in front of the microwave thinking: “COME ON!” There is still THREE minutes left!

I've caught myself opening the microwave with four seconds left. Apparently, I had somewhere extremely important to be with my leftover spaghetti.

And the traffic light. Don’t get me started on the traffic light. You know the one. You're sitting there. It turns green. The person in front of you doesn't move. You generously give them approximately 0.8 seconds before beginning to question every decision they have ever made. “IT'S GREEN!” Meanwhile, I'm sitting behind them like I'm trying to qualify for the Indianapolis 500.

Never mind that I'm probably going to arrive at my destination four seconds later than originally planned.

Those were my four seconds. I had plans for them...

But don’t We Treat God the Same Way? Here's where it gets uncomfortable. Because sometimes I approach God exactly like I approach the microwave. I pray. I wait. Nothing happens. So, I look at God like: “Well?” I prayed Tuesday and now It's Thursday. What are we doing here?

We ask God for direction and expect an answer by lunch. We ask God to fix something we've spent fifteen years messing up and wonder why He hasn't repaired it by next Sunday. We pray for our family. Our church. Our finances. Our future. Our relationships. And then we wait. And wait and that's when faith gets difficult.

Because believing God can do something is one thing. Trusting God when He hasn't done it yet is something entirely different.

Psalm 27:14 says:

“Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.”

David didn't say. “Wait for the Lord unless it becomes inconvenient.”

He didn't say: “Wait approximately three to five business days.”

He simply said: Wait.

And I don't like that word. I prefer words like now, immediately, suddenly, and today. Those are good Pentecostal words! We love suddenly like in Acts 2 “Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven…”

That's my kind of Scripture. But here's what we sometimes forget: Before the suddenly, there was a waiting. Jesus told the disciples to wait.

And they waited. They prayed. They stayed together. They trusted what Jesus had promised. Then the suddenly came.

We love the suddenly, but God often works in the waiting, in the patience.

Biblical patience isn't sitting around shrugging our shoulders. It's continuing to trust God while we wait.

It's saying:

“God, I don't understand Your timing, but I trust Your character.”

It's continuing to pray when the answer hasn't come.

Continuing to worship when the breakthrough hasn't happened.

Continuing to obey when the road doesn't make sense.

Continuing to believe when nothing seems to be moving.

That's patience.

And unfortunately, there's really only one way to learn it.

You have to be patient.

So I'll keep praying: “Lord, give me patience.”

And when He gives me another opportunity to practice it, I'll try not to complain.