Patience of the Saints | Part A

The King James Version (KJV) is mostly used in these lessons. Click here to access the KJV online.

Miss Wagner was worried.  The afternoon field trip to the train museum with her class of second graders had gone well.  The children had been interested and (for the most part) well behaved.  She had been able to put a stop to Chad and Tim’s brief tussling match before anything had been damaged at the museum.  She had been able to find a bathroom just in time for little Lindy, who, by rights, should still be in first grade.  And all of the children had been picked up by their parents at the museum on time, all but one. 

Pamela Forsythe had not been picked up.  Three o’clock had come and gone.  Long gone, then four and now five.  Miss Wagner did not have Pamela’s home phone number and, by this hour, there was no one left at the school of whom she could inquire.  She did not know where Pamela lived and, what is more, little Pamela did not know either.

Indianapolis, in the fall of 1964, was on edge with racial tension.  The transportation museum was not in the best part of town and Miss Wagner was getting nervous.  If she took Pamela home with her, she would have no way to let her parents know where the little girl was.  With no way to contact them, she could do nothing but sit and wait.  And wait.  And wait. 

The teacher and the little girl played Eye Spy, Simon Says and various guessing games to pass the time. Repeatedly the teacher told the child not to worry, and little Pamela always said, “It’s alright, my Mom will come.”

At a quarter after 5 o’clock, the man who ran the museum came out.  He was worried, too.  He did not like to drive off and leave a woman and child alone in the gathering darkness of the parking lot. 

Finally, at 5:30 p.m., over two hours after the other children had been picked up, Mrs. Forsythe arrived in a flurry of apologies and explanations.  She hugged her little girl who calmly climbed out of Teacher’s car and scrambled into Mother’s with a merry little wave, “Thank you, Miss Wagner!  See you tomorrow!”

Driving home, Miss Wagner marveled at how calm Pamela had been.  She was not nervous.  She was not scared.  She was not worried.  She knew that mother would come.  The thought clearly never entered the little girl’s mind that mother might not come.  Instead, she had been relaxed, cheerfully playing games and visiting with teacher.  She had complete and total confidence that mother would come because mother had said she would.  This total faith in her mother allowed Pamela to wait the long hours with patience.

The New Testament is full of admonishments for believers to practice patience, and praise for those that do.  It is very clearly an important spiritual attribute to possess.  The problem is, most people do not understand precisely what is “patience,” as it is spoken of in Scripture.  Remembering being scolded as a child to “Be patient!” they assume patience is nothing more than being calm when feeling bored at unexpected delay.  Such a definition is supported by modern dictionaries which define patience as: “the will or ability to wait or endure without complaint.”¹

Language, however, is fluid and few languages are more so than English, which is constantly adding words and changing definitions in its ever-expanding vocabulary.  To grasp the full significance of what the Bible is referring to when it instructs believers to exercise “patience,” it is necessary to learn how the word was defined when the Bible translators selected it to represent the original Greek word.

PATIENCE, The suffering of afflictions, pain, toil, calamity, provocation or other evil, with a calm, unruffled temper; endurance without murmuring or fretfulness.  Patience may spring from constitutional fortitude . . . or from Christian submission to the divine will.  . . . The act or quality of waiting long for justice or expected good without discontent.²

Far more than enduring boredom with a calm spirit, true Christian patience is founded upon faith and is a vital part of spiritual development.  The trials that come into the lives of all are allowed by Yahuwah in order to develop spiritual strength and fortitude.  In Romans five, Paul lays out the process by which patience is learned and the spiritual rewards that result:

We glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of Yahuwah is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.  (Romans 5:3-5)³

The struggles and trials that beset the path of all who follow Yahuwah are allowed by infinite Love.  These very trials can be overcome only by faith and trust in divine power.  This gives each person individual knowledge, individual experience that Yahuwah is trustworthy.

“Patience” is available to all who will seek it.  It is gained by choosing to trust Yahuwah in the daily life.  This is a conscious choice.  It is a decision that is not based upon feelings.  Indeed, feelings (of fear, of doubt) must often be ignored when exercising faith.  Faith is “the assent of the mind to the truth of what is declared by another, resting on his authority and veracity, without other evidence.”⁴

There are many things Yahuwah longs to do for His children, but if they do not choose to exercise faith, He is limited in what He can do for them.  As Yahushua explained, “If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.”  (Mark 9:23)

When, in answer to the prayer of faith, Yahuwah works a mighty deliverance, gratitude is awakened in the heart.  In turn, gratitude for blessings received inspires love.  This is a self-perpetrating cycle for the love that is gained through this experience inspires still greater faith!

Choose to believe the promises given in Scripture.  These are Yahuwah’s words to you.  Base your trust on your personal knowledge of Him as an all-powerful, all-loving Creator.  It was for this very reason that Yahuwah has given countless promises in His Word.

His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and piety, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust, and beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience [piety]; and to [piety] brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.  For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Master Yahushua the Anointed. (2 Peter 1:3-8)