The Gift Of Patience

Imagine receiving the gift of patience. Sounds boring, doesn’t it? It is like one of those really amazing things that mature people do … they have patience.

But what if you set your eyes on what you want, and it is within your grasp? Perhaps you meet a new love interest, are on the verge of applying for a new job, want to take your ministry to the next level and so on. You will need … patience.

One of God’s greatest gifts is that of patience.

Patience is one of the most valuable gifts you will ever receive, but the process of developing patience is often an exercise in frustration at first. God’s greatest blessings arrive in what seems like slow motion. You can see that great gift on the horizon, and you may wonder when your glorious hands will reach around to grasp what your heart desires most. But the more you want something, the slower it arrives because you need … patience.

Patience is a gift that works incredible magic on us. In fact, we become transformed by patience.

The gift of not getting what you want when you want it is that God then establishes authority over your life. We must seek the Lord for what we need in life (Psalm 121:2). With this authority, we may realize while waiting that what we think we want is actually not what we need. Instead, God leads us in another direction in which there are even more tremendous blessings. As a result of waiting, we are receiving God’s best. Small opportunities pass our way, but if we are patient, we will see that even larger blessings are arriving—blessings that we would miss entirely if we were not prepared to wait.

Also with patience, we grow in our relationship with God.

We are forced to just sit and wait for our heart’s desires. What we do while we wait reveals not only our character but our level of faith in God. Do we trust that the Lord will provide our greatest heart’s desires? Are we prepared to work through whether these desires are in His will or not? Can we (with patience) hold out for God’s best in our lives without jumping at the next thing out of a desire of satisfying our flesh?

With patience we are forced to sit and wait on God. As a result, we deepen our walk with Him through surrendering our heart’s desires. We cast our cares upon God and trust in His provision (Psalm 55:22). This process is much like planting a seed and realizing God decides if there will be fruit from this plant. Eventually the seeds take root, and we can tug on these roots all we want. In fact, we may make all kinds of plans around the harvest of our seeds and all the actions we need to do to carry out the unveiling of our heart’s desires. And then … nothing … we are forced to sit and wait.

With the gift of patience, we see that this waiting has tremendous value. We are being prepared for God’s blessings His way.

Then, when our circumstances move, we realize we couldn’t have done it ourselves. As a result, the glory goes to God and, with patience, we learn to rest in the Lord as well as trust in Him. With patience we learn to walk at the Lord’s pace toward the land He provides, the land that flows with milk and honey.