Patience, the Quality of Demand

UV 1330/10,000 Patience, The Quality of Demand

And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.

Hebrews 6 v 15

Many people despair when they do not find relief despite belief. But Jesus led by example. He showed us that one needs to patiently endure before the promise is fulfilled. It involves an attitude of faith and expectancy based on our understanding and belief in the revealed nature of God, that He is all powerful, that He does not lie or prevaricate, that nothing is impossible or too difficult for Him. It also involves a time of waiting- a gestation period for the seed of the promise to germinate and grow in the womb of time and space and in our hearts, minds and lives. It implies that one stops looking at one’s circumstances but takes an unrelenting stance of faith. It is preferring the promise of the unseen over the circumstances of the seen. It is about making the Word of God our only frame of reference for understanding and progressing in this world. It is about being excellent and righteous even knowing that the world is not organized around excellence or righteousness. It is about taking God at His word. It is about moving from our comfort zone to our challenge zone not knowing what awaits us there. It is about judging God faithful to His promises. It is about confessing faith and victory when circumstances would justify defeat and despair. It is about being zealous for the blessing of the Lord. It is about being fearless against overwhelming odds. It is about declining the pleasures, allurements and temptations of the world and of the flesh even when one is in a position to indulge in these with seeming impunity. It is the willingness to suffer pain and affliction for a cause.

When a person applies for a job the quality of demand of the employer is almost invariably- ability not character. They look at character only when things go awry. Patience is the quality of demand of the Lord. Patience does not come easily. It is not a quality associated with children or immature adults. It is a quality that comes with experience, endurance of a variety of trials and troubles. Like steel that is tempered at high temperatures in flames, our faith is put to the test in the course of a variety of experiences. Human employers look also for experience but the Lord looks for experiences. What are the toughest situations we have endured so far? How did we come through? Was it by our own strength or by our dependence on the strength, grace and hope the Lord gives us? The experience itself is like going through a tunnel and patience is the light at the end of the tunnel.

Patience is not just tolerance but a kind of humility that makes us realize that we can go through life only with the help of the Lord. It is an undying and indefatigable hope in the character of God, in His great love and in His Word. That kind of humility and hope enables us to wait without complaining, without being desperate or depressed. Patience is a grace the Lord gives His own to emerge triumphant out of all their struggles. All the faith giants enumerated in Hebrews chapter 11 went through a series of trials and afflictions full of hope and an assurance of victory at the end. Some did not even receive the confirmation of victory while still on earth.

Prateep V Philip