Suffering Well

Someone told me this week that the word patience means long suffering. With that in mind, when I ask God for patience, I am actually asking him to help me suffer well over a long period of time. Sounds funny, doesn't it? Of course there are other ways to describe patience such as persistent courage in trying circumstances. That description sounds a little bit better, a bit sweeter, but it's still the same meaning underneath. No matter how you look at it, patience implies something painful, something unwanted, something people do not want to have to use in their vocabulary. 

I used to think to myself, "So what's the point of being patient? Why wait for things, why not make them happen when I want them to happen? If I wait I very well may miss out on what I want, right?" Yes more or less that is the dialogue that would go around in my head. And the outcome of my not waiting, although at first felt great, ended in disaster. I traded God's truth and accepted the lie that I knew what was best for me. That I could supply my happiness and that somehow it would all work out. 

What I am starting to see is that the Lord sees patience differently then I do. Patience, much like pain, can have a multi-faceted purpose. When looking at it at face value, patience sucks. Honestly, no matter how you look at it it's going to suck, but there's another part to it. Take verse 3 in Psalm 37 for example,"Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture." Even though waiting is difficult, and it hurts, according to God it's also a safe place to be. He invites us to dwell in the safety of trusting in him.

In waiting, we have time to think about what we want, we have space to grow and mature..even heal. We learn how to really enjoy what the Lord has put in our lives.Sometimes having to be patient makes us branch out and explore other avenues, going down paths we never would have had we gotten what we wanted right when we wanted it. 

Patience refines us. It teaches us to take refuge in the Lord instead of relying on our own strength. Patience protects us from doing life our own way. And even though it can be very painful, because of God's great love for us, our pain always has a purpose.

Psalm 37