Faith & Patience
We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.
Hebrews 6:12
Have you ever felt crippled by the fear that you were going to miss God? Or is that just me?
From the time I was young, I’ve lived with a sense that there is a calling from God on my life. That God has a specific destiny and purpose for me. I can see it. I can feel it. I know it in the depths of me.
However, my desire to see the fulfillment of this vision and promise from God often causes me to feel impatient. When the fulfillment isn’t coming as quickly as I would like, I often begin to fall into striving.
I can begin to feel like King Saul in 2 Samuel 13.
Saul is in the midst of a war with the Philistines. His army is in a dire situation. And the prophet Samuel has told Saul to wait for him for seven days. Upon his arrival, Samuel, who was also the priest, would offer a sacrifice to God on Saul’s behalf.
As he waits, the situation grows more and more critical. His men are quaking with fear. And on the seventh day, there’s still no sign of Samuel.
So Saul takes matters into his own hands. No one was going to accuse him of being passive. Instead, he would go ahead and make the sacrifice himself. Surely God would be pleased with his go-getter attitude.
But just as Saul finishes making the sacrifice, Samuel walks into the camp. At this moment, Samuel rebukes Saul and tells him that God is going to rip the kingdom from his hand because he did not keep the command of the Lord. He had taken matters into his own hands rather than wait on God.
This is often my temptation—and is too often my tendency.
My temptation usually isn’t to do things God has clearly said “no” to. And I’m guessing that’s probably not your struggle either.
My temptation is to take action on things God hasn’t clearly said “yes” to.
Recently in my time with the Lord, I spoke to Him about this internal struggle.
Why am I so impatient? Why is it so hard for me to wait on You instead of forging ahead without a clear word from You?
I wanted to chalk it up to being decisive and having an entrepreneurial spirit, but deep down I knew that wasn’t it. But what was it?
As I spoke to the Lord I heard in my mind the words of Hebrews 6:12, “But imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.”
He was emphasizing the word patience. Through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.
Faith wasn’t my problem. Patience was. I had no doubt that God would fulfill His promise. I just wanted Him to fulfill it faster.
I knew the Holy Spirit was revealing to me that this season was intended to forge patience into my character.
I continued talking to the Lord.
But Lord, I don’t want to be lazy… I want to be diligent and active.
It was then that I noticed the beginning of Hebrews 6:12, “We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.”
God was making a clear distinction in His Word between laziness and patience. Patience isn’t laziness.
So what’s the difference?
Laziness is failing to take action on what you have a clear directive from God to do.
Impatience is forcing open a door or forging down a path God has not given his “yes” to.
We don’t need to ask God if we’re supposed to obey biblical commands like sharing the Gospel, loving our neighbors, caring for the poor, or fighting for justice. To sit around and do nothing about clear biblical commands would be laziness.
Impatience comes into play when we start to try to force a promise from God to come to pass in our own timing. Like Abraham, who instead of waiting for God to fulfill the promise of a son through his barren wife Sarah, sleeps with his maidservant Hagar to produce a son.
Several days after this dialogue with the Lord, I continued the conversation.
Lord, why is this so hard for me? I don’t think it’s just the way that I’m wired. What is it?
Then came the answer.
You don’t trust Me...
I knew He was right. I trusted Him in many areas. But I didn’t fully trust Him in the area of his promise concerning my calling.
He continued by saying, Patience is a character trait of trust.
Biblical patience is an outflow of trust. Patience is not apathy. Patience is not laziness. Rather, patience is evidence of trust.
Patience always seems like a great idea until you’re in a season when you don’t want to be patient. It’s easy to feel like a patient person until something you want is taking longer than expected. Everyone feels patient until their urgent Amazon delivery is three days late :)
But Jesus by His Holy Spirit is the master sanctifier. He can see the impurities in our character. Even the ones that are invisible to us. And He is an expert at creating life circumstances that draw those impurities to the surface.
The question is, when He exposes them, will we cooperate and allow Him to remove them? Or will we resist? Trusting our own wisdom and work ethic more than His leading.
It’s an uncomfortable process. I know… But remember, it’s not by faith alone we possess the promises of God. It’s also by patience.
Application Question:
What areas do you feel like you are lacking patience and trust in God?
Write them down.
After you’ve written them down, ask the Lord to forgive you for a lack of trust. Re-declare your trust in Him as a good Father and perfect King. And ask Him to forge trust more deeply into your character. And ask the Holy Spirit to help you bear the fruit of patience.