Daily Devotions for Difficult Days [90] Sonnet of Love (4) Patience

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First and Last Words

The last words of my mother to my dad were these, "My work is finished you keep up the good work." On what seemed like an ordinary day, my mother stepped off the number 512 Wolverhampton bus with two bags of shopping. Walking up the not-so-steep Lyndhurst Road, her heart failed at the age of 77. An ambulance was called and my dad was able to sit in the back of the ambulance where he heard these words, which in turn inspired him to serve the Lord as a missionary for the remainder of his earthly days.

We cherish both the first words a baby lisps and the last words a loved one utters.

In 1 Corinthians 13, we arrive at the first word of the list that make up Paul's description of love.

This first word is important, "Love is patient." I turn to Google's dictionary to find out how it describes this grace and read, "the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, problems, or suffering without becoming annoyed or anxious" which is a very good start.

What patience is not

We must be clear, patience is not possessing one of those easy-going natures. Do we not sometimes meet folk who are just horizontal about everything? Nothing seems to phase them, nothing much provokes them, to either mirth or wrath. Those who possess such a character may appear patient, but such patience may be more a matter of personality and chemistry than of character. A laid-back person may be impatient in reality, but that impatience is hidden from the world.

Nor is patience good breeding. We can be brought up in a home where we have been taught good manners - wait till everyone else has been served, only speak if we are spoken to, and so on. But in the domestic sphere, a well-bred person may not be patient either.

No, the virtue of patience is not natural.

What patience is

So what is patience? It is indeed the "the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, problems, or suffering without becoming annoyed or anxious." Sometimes the Bible translators have chosen the word "long-suffering" to translate the Greek word used here because the word can also mean "to persevere." To love someone is to persevere with them.

When it comes to suffering, patience is the ability to bear with pain for a long time without complaint.

Perhaps the long period of lockdown has been used by God in some believer's life to develop perseverance.

The example of the prophets comes to mind, says James, "as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord." (James 5:10)

Since patience and perseverance are twin sisters, Job also comes to the apostle's mind, "As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about." (James 5:11)

William Carey, often called the founder of modern missions, had to work against the backdrop of a wife whose mind had become completely unstable. His biographer puts it rather starkly: “It was a mark of Carey’s character that he was able to accomplish his arduous biblical and literary labours with an insane wife, frequently disturbed to the point of frenzy, next room to his study.”

When it comes to people, patience is putting up with the repeated foibles and weaknesses of our brothers and sisters without anger in our hearts or resentment in our spirits. The apostle Peter, the orginal Mr. Do, asked the Lord how many times he should forgive his brother - no doubt a fellow disciple who was bugging him at the time. Peter thought that seven was a generous figure. What did Jesus say?  “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times" by which he meant on and on and on and on. And on.

Patience is the ability to put up with difficcult circumstances and awkward people without our hearts being affected.

So we keep on serving, and we keep on caring.

The God of Patience

No believer can be patient in their own strength or power. Patience is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). Patience is a grace only God can give, not something that is developed over time or conjured up from within. Patience is a divine gift.

And it comes from a God who demonstrates it perfectly.

God waited 400 years for the Amorites to give up their evil ways before he gave their land to the Israelites (Genesis 15:16). And today God sends the sun and rain on a world that is against him.

Think how patient God is with each of us! How many years has he put up with us?

  Summing it all Up

To love someone, to love others, says the apostle Paul, is to show patience towards them. Perhaps Paul is thinking of the Corinthian love meal where greedy (and therefore impatient) people got on with their lavish meal without even noticing the poor eating their scraps. Patience here would have been expressed as thougthfulness followed by sharing.

 

A Song for the Day

Our song for the day is a very simple chorus-prayer, which asks the Lord for more likeness to his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me,
All his wonderful passion and purity,
O thou Spirit divine, all my nature refine,
Till the beauty of Jesus be seen in me.

Albert Orsborn

You can  hear it HERE.

A Prayer for the Day

Our loving and patient Father in heaven,

We marvel at your gracious patience with the world and with us! How often you have put up with our weaknesses and sins and have not given up with us! How patient you are with this rebellious world.

Give to us the spiritual and divine gift of patience.

Help us to keep going in difficult circumstances, help us to love difficult people, teach us to keep praying for lost people, knowing that your patience with the world means their salvation.

Help us to keep on keeping on going.

For Christ's Sake,

Amen.