Patience

I was driving home from church yesterday dealing with some stuff as usual. When I drive I tend to think and think and think, some would say think too much, and there may be some truth to that, but I also spend the time conversing with God.  While God and I were talking about my life I kept coming back to the chorus to an old Guns n Roses Song, Patience. (As an aside, this is the second time a Guns n Roses song has made an essay, what’s up with that?)

little patience, mm yeah, mm yeah
need a little patience, yeah
just a little patience, yeah
some more patience, yeah
need some patience, yeah
could use some patience, yeah
gotta have some patience, yeah
all it takes is patience, just a little patience is all you need  

While this was on my mind, a ministry message came over ReachFM which also talked about patience.  OK, confirmation from the Lord is always something to pay attention too. The answers to the questions I was asking on the drive home could probably be resolved with the application of patience.  

Two verses immediately came to mind, Galatians 5:22-23 and 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.”   

 “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”

- 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.

While I have head knowledge, it sometimes takes awhile for heart knowledge to work in me. I should be better at patience. I originally wrote about it years ago in my essay on relationships (also on this blog).  At that time I wrote:

“There is nothing in this passage (1 Corinthians 13:4-7) that speaks to being in a rush. In fact patience and perseverance are mentioned, and mean quite the opposite.

Patience is defined:  a virtue, is the capacity of enduring hardship or inconvenience, emphasizes calmness, self-control, and the willingness or ability to tolerate delay. Its opposite is weakness.

Perseverance is defined: a virtue, implies persistence, endurance, hardiness, fortitude, stamina, robustness and tolerance. It is constant persistence in a course of action, purpose, or state, steadfast pursuit of an aim, tenacious assiduity or endeavor.”

You see, my problem with patience today is that I know some of the promises God has for me and I have been praying for some for 20 years.  Yet 20 years later I am still waiting for them to be fulfilled. Sometimes my patience wears thin and I wonder if they’ll ever be fulfilled.  Scripture is clear 

“For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” – Jeremiah 29:11

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” – Matthew 7:7-8

But it is also clear

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.- Ecclesiates 3:11

Everything will be done for God’s glory in God’s time not in our time.

Even David had to wait for the Lord. 

I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.  He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord

 -Psalm 40:1-3

And now to the crux of today's matter.  One of my dreams is to be married and have a family. I’ve prayed that prayer for 20 years. As I mentioned to a friend over the summer, I’d love to read a bedtime story to my kid(s), take a walk with the most beautiful woman in the world,  my wife, sit down to a family dinner, watch a movie with my kids, build a snowman, go fishing, take a hike, give my wife poetry,  heck even help with homework, ask my wife how her day went and just talk, play board games, listen to the quiet after the kids go to bed, sit on a porch swing 30 years from now watching grand-kids play, give my wife flowers, to grow old with my best friend and so on. However, at this time none of this is possible for me and I get frustrated at times because I am getting older.  However, I have hope that these things will come to pass since God has not taken this desire away from me. 

But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. - Romans 8:25

Therefore, while hard at times I will hope in the Lord and wait patiently.