Beloved Sisters in the Lord,
Would that I had the patience of a saint, as some of you think! Indeed, patience is a precious gift of the Holy Spirit, following the flow from LOVE, JOY AND PEACE! (22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23). Patience, in the biblical sense, means slow to anger, long-suffering. What a definition—slow to anger. Only God is slow to anger and, therefore, truly patient with an impatient world. What a gift to have God’s word remind us of His patience with us! Read, Dear Sisters, from Psalm 103: 8-14.
8″The Lord is merciful and gracious,
Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.
9 He will not always strive with us,
Nor will He keep His anger forever.
10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
Nor punished us according to our iniquities.
11 For as the heavens are high above the earth,
So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him;
12 As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
13 As a father pities his children,
So the Lord pities those who fear Him.
14 For He knows our frame;
He remembers that we are dust.”
In human nature, patience is cultivated through the trials and setbacks that we experience during our lifetime. As the children of God, our patience should result from trusting Him, our Father in Heaven. It is when we pocket our trust in God that we become quick tempered, easily angered, and yield ourselves to fret and challenge and forget the blessed new creation that we are. (Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 2 Corinthians 5:17) The very fact that we are saved for eternity should be something that completely overwhelms us with patience to endure any and all infractions on what we deem most important—in our perfect little world, for our perfect little agenda!
No, Dear Ladies, I do not possess the patience of a saint, but there is someone who modeled it for me. Having recently taught a Bible study on Noah and God’s Covenant with him, I began to wonder about the eight people in the ark who were saved through the awful forces of water surge and down pour of the wrath of the holy, holy, holy God on a completely sinful world. Has anyone given much thought to Mrs. Noah as possessing the patience of a saint?
As far-fetched as this may seem, think for a moment of this sinner saved by grace, and what she endured while her husband constructed an ark, a huge building that was to house animals and plants and his family for many, many weeks. Think of her patience as they were ridiculed while this vessel was being built in the middle of dry land. Until then, people had not known rainfall, let alone a deluge, and they could not understand what Noah was doing because they had refused any relationship with God, their Creator and Provider.
But Noah was chosen by God to know Him. And so, what could she have done, other than patiently be his helpmate, feed him, keep him company, and give him encouragement from the very Gospel she received from him. Then they entered the ark and there she was with Noah and her sons and in-laws, locked in a floating box of gopher wood, listening to the bleat of sheep, the moo of cows and the chirp of birds…and these are only the sweet sounds! Think of her patience as she feeds the two elephants and two camels, the two frogs and the two dogs, and, possibly being food herself for the two mosquitoes, that were being kept alive for the restoration of the natural world that was being devastated by our most patient God!
My Sisters, patience requires us to endure—to put up with—the most uncomfortable situations: the surroundings, the sounds, the smells, the selfishness and, yes, even the silliness that we may not like. Even dealing with family dynamics had to cause more stress as they all wondered what was going on outside!
In the end, this patient lady emerged from the ark to observe a totally destroyed world, and to be God’s chosen one, among the 7 others, who were saved. She and the others had much work to do, clean-up, rebuild and evangelize the new ones to be born for the repopulation effort. That had to be an unspeakable challenge to her patience. But, oh, what grace and mercy she and her family had been given—they were saved by God!
If, indeed, we contemplate our own salvation, through the mercy of God Who, through His Son, Jesus Christ alone we are spiritually restored to Him, then we can begin to enjoy Heaven now! What could possibly irritate, annoy, attack and consume us when we are already in Heaven? Like Mrs. Noah, trust God and patiently ride the waves of each day within the ark of His sovereign grace!
With thankfulness for His Grace alone,
Mimi