Working Through It – Devotion 67

Patience…that word conjures up so many images for me, mostly unpleasant.  Just wait, it will be fine.  Just be patient, there is good to come.  Don’t be so anxious, it will be fine.  Tomorrow will be better.  This will be much better in about six months.  Don’t worry…in about a year, it will all be back to normal.

All of these phrases make my eyes roll to the back of my head.  I would rather not hear them nor wait.  I would like for things to be as they were or at least an improved version of where they were.  I would like for things to move at my speed or faster.  I would like to not have to wait for what is needed.  I would like to not have to be patient.  But here we are…trying to be patient (or not).

Sometimes an end in sight can help.  If we can just make it to a certain point, then we can hang on.  When we are given hope on the horizon, we can simply find a way to just keep moving.  One of the most difficult is when the date or time comes and it did not happen.  There isn’t a change.  Things are not different or better or whatever we were expecting.  It can be frustrating.

As I read Psalm 40, I began to get a new vision of patience.  Through this Psalm, I was transported into what patience can bring.  I see rescue…I see firm footing to move forward…I see singing…and I see joy.  All of this because of God working and the patience of the Psalmist.  God heard the Psalmist through patience.  God rescued through patience.  God used the patience of the Psalmist to bring about victory.

I don’t know about you, but that changes my ideas of patience.  No longer am I patient for something that is arbitrary.  I am not patient because someone told me to be or because I was looking for something to happen.  This reminds me that God is working in and through my patience.  I can better see him work.  I am ready for rescue.  I am prepared to sing.  I find joy when he hears my cries.  I am patient because God is at work.  Now that is something that makes it worth being patient.

Focus Scripture:

Psalm 40:1-5

¹ I waited patiently for the Lord;
he inclined to me and heard my cry.
² He drew me up from the desolate pit,
out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock,
making my steps secure.
³ He put a new song in my mouth,
a song of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear,
and put their trust in the Lord.

⁴ Happy are those who make
the Lord their trust,
who do not turn to the proud,
to those who go astray after false gods.
⁵ You have multiplied, O Lord my God,
your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us;
none can compare with you.
Were I to proclaim and tell of them,
they would be more than can be counted.

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