Patience

No one asks for it. To do so, brings catastrophe. At least in the here and now.

Yet, as painful as trials are, exercising patience in the trials of our lives, produces plenty of fruit.

Hebrews 12:9-11

Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.  Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

Patience

1.       Patience is a Component of Hope

Rom 8:25

But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

Patience is not simply waiting! If so, this verse would be non-sensible. Consider  –….then do we with waiting wait for it(?)

What is the point?  No no no.

It is a quality of waiting, a specific manner in which we wait.  It is not simply waiting.  It is, in the midst of a trial, a particular manner in which we handle the delay, the waiting, the seeming frustration of our circumstances.

Rom 15:4

For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

Patience in our daily circumstances, supported by the comfort found in the Scriptures, gives a believer hope.  Without a Scriptural hope, patience is an exercise in futility.  Scripture is the foundation we can build upon for a hopeful life, not simply hoping for the best, but for actual future events, the resurrection, the escape from this sinful world, and the release of the sinful tendencies I live with each day.  Like I said, a Scripturally hopeful life.  I need to focus on the big picture when in the midst of uncertainty and confusion.  Jesus did not come to deliver us from minor discomforts (although in His mercy He often does!), but to create in us a reflection of Himself.

Note that it takes both patience and the Scriptures comfort to produce hope in the believer’s life.  This combination is a lost concept.  Many I speak with tend to have a cursory understanding of the Scriptures at best, usually pulling a verse (sometimes out of context) to support their “hope”.  Paul mentions that the Scriptures were written for “our learning”, that after “our learning”, we might have hope.

I have assumed too many things in my life!

1Thess 1:3

Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father;

Again, patience and hope are intrinsically combined.

In the previous verse, patience (along with understanding the message of the Scriptures) produced a hope filled life.  Patience was a foundation on which true hope could be built.

In this verse, patience is an aspect of the very hope itself.  As a believer has hope in the Lord Jesus, patience will be a characteristic of that hope.  If I consider my “hope” to be biblical, and yet am typically impatient, I need to reconsider what type of “hope” I am living in.

Of course, some may question this, referring to the many times the Word records believers asking why God is taking so long,  Patience allows for questions.  As a matter of fact, at times patience requires questions to be asked.  As we have considered before, patience is not simply waiting, detached from the trial.

  2.       Patience is Associated with Suffering

2Thess 1:4

So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure:

Paul boasted of the patience of the Thessalonians.

In our fast paced demanding society, patience is considered to be a hindrance.

• We want church growth NOW, and sometimes will stop at nothing to see it happen.
• We want instant maturity and will chase every Christian fad to try to find it.
• We want immediate relief from trials, and will consider every option available.  (Check out 2 Thess 1:6 for Paul’s counsel on our response to tribulations)

Patience is a virtue that our society has sought to degrade.  But the patience of the believer, in the midst of trials, is a reflection of the hope we have in the Lord Jesus.   He is the King of Kings right now.  We can live in that truth.

Rom 12:12

Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;

In the midst of a machine gun spray of quick exhortations, Paul mentions hope and patience in the same breath.  Hope is to be rejoiced in. Tribulation is an opportunity to exercise patience.

Note that tribulation, in this verse, is the translation of the greek word thlipsis.¹  When I see this term, I automatically think of pressure or crushing.  When I am being “crushed”, I find it critical to remember that the crushing is an opportunity, a test to reorient myself to a correct perspective.

But let’s go a bit further.  The term “patient” is the greek work hupomeno. ²   To be patient means to remain under, to persevere, endure, sustain, bear up under.

So let’s get this straight.  When something is crushing me, I am to remain under it.  I am not to seek an inappropriate escape or relief.  I am to exercise a willingness to remain under, waiting for the salvation of the Lord in each trial.

Years ago, we were in the midst of a trial, and we were reading about David’s response to King Saul at the same time.  Over a year and a half, we sought to bless those who persecuted us, and pray for our enemy.  The Lord’s deliverance was very obvious to us. We sought to remain under and we are thankful for the Scriptures that comforted us in our attempt to be patient!

3.       Christian Service Demands Patience

2Cor 6:4

But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses,

How do men judge themselves as minister of God?  Sometimes, when a man states he is called to the ministry, he sometimes supports the claims with worldly criteria.  Flamboyant, articulate, verbose, charismatic, personable, handsome, grave, organized….

Paul states that his approval as a minister of God came through exercising much patience.  Patience takes time.  Character is different from personality.

1Tim 6:11

But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.

2Tim 3:10

But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience,

Both of these verses describe the importance of patience in the minister’s life.

I sometimes consider the attributes described above (both prescriptive and descriptive) of the minister to be like a coat of fur on an animal.  A porcupine does not grow fur like a mink. The fur comes from within.  No matter how hard a porcupine tries, they can not grow fur like a mink!

The inner life is what produces a minister.

4.       Patience is Required to Inherit the Promises

Rom 2:5-8 (note verse 7)

⁵ But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;  ⁶ Who will render to every man according to his deeds:   ⁷ To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:  ⁸ But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath…

Paul is speaking something hard here.   Verse 6 speaks of judgment according to deeds.  (A fairly consistent teaching in the Word.)  The hard thing is that Paul links immortality / eternal life somehow with patient continuance in good works.   How you work that out in your mind is up to you, but no matter how you do it, it is obvious that patience is necessary.

Heb 6:12, 15

¹²That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

¹⁵And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.

Inheriting the promises and obtaining the promise.  For the sake of staying on focus concerning patience, I won’t venture into the why “promises” in verse 12 morphs into a singular promise in verse 15.  It may be immaterial.  The point is, Abraham had a promise and it wasn’t realized until all his time was “wasted.”

Sometimes patience is hardest to exercise due to our lack of understanding God’s promise.  But Abraham eventually understood.  Through patience, he obtained the promise.

Heb 10:36

For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.

Whoever wrote Hebrews was beating the same drum again.  Christians need to exercise patience.  We are on this earth to perform the will of God.  After that, the promise will be given.  Consider what Abraham had to do, between first hearing the promise and actually realizing the promise.  He was told to…

• Leave his family behind.
• Leave his country behind.
• Leave his gods behind.
• Leave his security behind.
• Leave his reputation behind.

I think you get the point.  Abraham had to exercise incredible patience with the demands put upon him.  We often think of him as the father of our faith, and rightly so, but the patience he exercised while his promise of an heir seemed to vaporize was incredible.  Not perfect, but incredible.

We have to exercise patience as we see some of our hopes and dreams seemingly vaporize in our lives.  Patience isn’t patience if everything is going the way we want it to go!

 5.       Patience Brings Experience

Rom 5:3, 4

³And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also:

knowing that tribulation worketh patience; 

⁴And patience, experience; and experience, hope:  

This is the famous text, that when mentioned in a study, invariably invokes a statement like – “Oh Carl – don’t ask for patience – all you are gonna get is problems!”

I suppose asking for tribulation is not prescribed here, but when tribulation (pressure) does come, it is not to be feared, although that seems to be my first reaction.  If we understand that pressure works  patience in us, and we have our long term goals correctly positioned in our lives, we can glory (boast, exult?) in our tribulations.

I need work in this!

I have seen that in the past 3 decades, as my wifey and I go through tough times, the experience we gain, by properly reacting (occasionally) gives us experience to fall back on in future trials.  We have learned experientially that the Lord is merciful, kind, full of goodness and tender hearted to His people.

 6.     Patience is a Goal in the Chistian Life

Col 1:9-11

For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness;

I have often considered this set of verses my favorite text in the Bible.  So much in the prayer of Paul for the Colossians, and it all ends with patience and longsuffering.  But isn’t patience the same thing as longsuffering?  There are many similarities between these two terms²   I really like the explanation given  by the The Complete Word Study Dictionary, AMG Publishers.

Longsuffering (makrothumía) is patience in respect to persons while patience (hupomone) endurance, is putting up with things or circumstances. Both words are often found together (2Co_6:4, 2Co_6:6; 2Ti_3:10).

Paul doesn’t leave much room for a believer to be impatient.

 7.       Patience Mimics God’s Character

Rom 2:4

Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

How often I have considered that the best way to bring one into the kingdom is through threats of hell, punishment, and judgment.  We are called to exercise love, patience, goodness and forbearance (self-restraint/tolerance) to those who oppose us.  This is the Christian life and part of the cross we are to carry.

Rom 9:22

What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:

This verse starts out with God willing to shew wrath, and  ends with a display of God’s patience to those who  deserve the wrath.  What an amazing God we serve!

Gal 5:22

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

Although we have the privilege to walk in the Spirit, we have to remember that this is not our fruit, but the fruit of the Spirit that is being displayed in our lives as we yield to the truth.

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End Notes

1  The following information is found in The Complete Word Study Dictionary, AMG Publishers. (emphasis mine)

G2347 – θλίψις – thlípsis; gen. thlípseōs, fem. noun from thlíbō (G2346), to crush, press, compress, squeeze, which is from thláō (n.f.), to break. Tribulation, trouble, affliction.

(I) In a figurative manner, pressure from evils, affliction, distress (2Co_2:4; Php_1:16); of a woman in travail (Joh_16:21). Often as a metonym for evils by which one is pressed, i.e., affliction, distress, calamity (Mat_13:21; Act_7:10-11; Rom_5:3; 2Co_1:4; Heb_10:33). In apposition in Mar_13:19. With the syn. stenochōría (G4730), literally narrowness of room, anguish, distress (Rom_2:9); with anágkē (G318), constraint, necessity (2Co_6:4; 1Th_3:7). See Sept.: 1Sa_10:19; Psa_119:143; Isa_8:22.

(II) Related to stenochōría (G4730), distress, narrowness, occurring only four times with the connotation of narrowness, from stenós (G4728), narrow of room, confined space. In three of the four occurrences in the NT, stenochōría is associated with thlípsis (Rom_2:9; Rom_8:35; 2Co_6:4). Thlípsis refers more to being crushed while stenōchoría refers more to narrowness of room or discomfort. Tribulation may affect either body or mind or both.

2  The following information is found in The Complete Word Study Dictionary, AMG Publishers. (emphasis mine)

Patience – G5281 ὑπομονή hupomone

to persevere, remain under. A bearing up under, patience, endurance as to things or circumstances

Hupomonḗ is associated with hope (1Th_1:3) and refers to that quality of character which does not allow one to surrender to circumstances or succumb under trial.

Generally meaning endurance, patience, perseverance or constancy under suffering in faith and duty.

Specifically patience as a quality of mind, the bearing of evils and suffering with tranquil mind.

Longsuffering – G3115 μακροθυμία makrothumía;

To be long-suffering. Forbearance, long-suffering, self-restraint before proceeding to action. The quality of a person who is able to avenge himself yet refrains from doing so

In Heb_6:15, makrothuméō (G3114) is used of Abraham’s patient faith in God under the pressure of trying circumstances (Jas_5:7-8).

Makrothumía is patience in respect to persons while hupomonḗ (G5281), endurance, is putting up with things or circumstances. Both words are often found together (2Co_6:4, 2Co_6:6; 2Ti_3:10).

Makrothumía is associated with mercy (éleos [G1656]) and is used of God.