“But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” – James 1:4 KJV
Patience is a virtue. It’s a phrase we’ve all heard but is quite difficult to apply – to put into practice as we wait on God. I’m reminded of words that did come from a movie but are poignant nonetheless and are asked by God Himself: “If someone prays for patience, you think God gives them patience or the opportunity to be patient? If someone prays for courage, you think God gives them courage or the opportunity to be courageous?” The point is that when we pray and ask God for anything, there isn’t a magical exchange where God simply drops the things we are asking for into our laps. Nothing else is required of us because God knows what we want and will give it to us. FALSE. I can’t speak for all things we might ask God for but in the case of characteristics like patience and courage, there’s some work to do on our end, some tests we have to pass to grasp that which we are asking God to give us. As James also later said, “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:26). We have to work at things and as my father has often said, righteousness has to be a choice. We have to fight against our flesh, abide instead in the Holy Spirit, and choose it for ourselves.
I will give you a perfect example. I thought I was a patient person. Okay maybe in certain contexts, but God has shown me in the past couple weeks that I had work to do. In fact, I have been praying for patience for the past couple of weeks and I forgot allll about the quote I shared with you earlier. I recently started a new job and my first check from that job was coming. You know how we get when we know we’re getting paid. We make plans for what we’re going to do with the money and we spend it before we even get it. Well, let me not say we, I can only speak for myself. I made plans for what I was going to do with my money (after tithing, saving, and giving some money to my parents of course) and I spent it before it even hit my account. I could not wait to get that money aka I was impatient. But I recognized that spirit in me, so I prayed day after day for patience, for me not to let this money become my god or idol. I had a handle on it, I thought. Long story short, I got the money about two weeks after I thought I would. I did not set up direct deposit like I thought I did so the check was mailed to my house. Waiting felt like forever and when I finally got my hands on the check and went to the bank to deposit it, I was told that I would have to wait six business days for the check to clear and Saturday did not count.
I counted the days and waited for my money to come and called the bank just to confirm when I would get it, they told me it would be a day later than I thought. I was upset. What did they mean it was coming a day later? I was frustrated and I even started to cry. I was sitting next to my dad telling him how frustrating it was to have money I could not touch and I got a bit angry and fully went “Woe is me.” I thought my dad would comfort me, but he challenged me instead. He reminded me that the money was there and that all I had to do was wait. A scripture of ours, my father and I is Philippians 2:3-4. The first part of that scripture is “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory,” and that is what I had done at that moment and every day I impatiently tried to track the money. I was operating in both strife and vanity, an awful combination. I needed to reassess my perspective. I was so busy focused on what I wanted to do and never saw any of this from God’s perspective. I forgot all about my prayer of patience and ended up doing exactly what I prayed not to do.
This was my opportunity to be patient and I wasn’t doing the work but I sat with my father’s words and I still had a couple of days to turn it around, to refocus my attention to God and not this money. The money didn’t sustain me, God did. The money didn’t provide for me, God did. The money was delayed because God ordained it. After all, I asked for patience and He was honoring my prayer. I’ve also been praying to God to prune that which cannot bear fruit and impatience doesn’t prune bear fruit, certainly not any good fruit. If you ask God for something or to take something away, don’t be surprised when you experience a challenge or a test. When we ask for something, especially a characteristic like patience, we must, as our elder brother James advised, let it have its perfect work. We also have prepared for how He chooses to answer our prayer. He is always seeking to refine us so that we may come forth as pure gold and be more like Him. When things happen to us, our reactions are usually selfish. Why me? Why is this happening to me? Instead, let us ask ourselves, what is this teaching me? What is God trying to show me?
