The God of Patience

Read Romans 15:4, 5. What is found in these verses for us?

We are normally impatient about things that we really want or have

been promised but don’t have yet. We are often satisfied only when we

get what we are longing for. And because we rarely get what we want

when we want it, it means that we are often doomed to irritation and

impatience. And when we are in this state, it is almost impossible to

maintain peace and trust in God.

Waiting is painful by definition. In Hebrew, one of the words for

“wait patiently” (Ps. 37:7, NKJV) comes from a Hebrew word that

can be translated “to be much pained,” “to shake,” “to tremble,” “to be

wounded,” “to be sorrowful.” Learning patience is not easy; sometimes

it’s the very essence of what it means to be in the crucible.

Read Psalm 27:14, Psalm 37:7, and Romans 5:3–5. What are these

verses saying to us? What does patience lead to?

While we wait, we can concentrate on one of two things. We can focus

on the things that we are waiting for, or we can focus on the One who holds

those things in His hands. What makes such a difference when we wait for

something isn’t so much how long we have to wait but our attitude while we

wait. If we trust the Lord, if we have placed our lives in His hands, if we have

surrendered our wills to Him, then we can trust that He will do what’s best

for us when it’s best for us, no matter how hard it is sometimes to believe it.

What things are you desperately waiting for? How can you learn

to surrender everything to God and to His timing? Pray your

way into an attitude of complete surrender and submission to

the Lord.