I Want Patience and I Want it Now

Psalm 40:1-8

 

Patience is a virtue. Did your mom ever tell you that? I know we did to our daughter, and now to our grandchildren. However, patience doesn’t seem to be a natural human trait. Driving on the highway will show you exactly what I mean. Our world seems to be less and less patient as we want everything faster and faster.

    

Even characters in the Bible had trouble with being impatient. Esau sold his birthright for stew because he couldn’t wait to eat. The people of Israel formed an idol out of gold because they couldn’t wait for Moses to return from the mountain. Peter cut off the ear of the servant in the Garden of Gethsemane because he couldn’t wait for Jesus.

 

But in today’s passage we read that David learned to wait patiently on the Lord. The Message puts it like this: “I waited and waited and waited for God. At last he looked; finally he listened.”  Consider how David learned patience.

 

After he was anointed to be the King of Israel and then defeated Goliath, it looked like he was on the fast track to the top. But Saul had a different idea, and as a result, David ran for his life. Hiding and waiting; that’s how David learned to be patient.

 

What could the benefits have been for David learning patience in this way? Again, we turn to The Message to glean some insight into this question: “Being religious, acting pious— that’s not what you’re asking for. You’ve opened my ears so I can listen.”  

 

The Lord uses the circumstances in our lives to help open our ears so that we can hear Him. By being patient, David learned to trust God, not religious rituals or himself. Just like Elijah, we need to listen for His “still, small voice”. It’s not an easy task to do in our impatient world, but we need to slow down. We need to turn the radio or TV or iphone6 off so that we can be still; so that we can listen for the Lord’s voice.

 

What was the outcome for David in waiting patiently?

“Then I said, “Here I am, I have come—
    it is written about me in the scroll.
I desire to do your will, my God;
    your law is within my heart.”

 

The Lord wants our heart. He wants our mind. He wants our soul. If we are willing to learn to wait patiently on Him, we just might be able to experience intimacy with the Lord that has no rivals.