Lord Give Me Patience and I Need It Right Now!

Psalm 27:14
Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.

The verse, no actually the whole chapter is one more than any other that I hold fast to because is does a lot to sustain me through rough or troubling time when I am walking in the valley. This one verse however, I have to admit is the part I have the most trouble with sometimes. You got it, the patience part. There are times when I pray, that I do get an answer right away, just as I wanted things to go. There are times when I pray, that I do get an answer right away, but it is not the answer I expected. At least I have my answer. Then there are times when I pray, that I don’t get an answer right away or I am told to wait for my answer. That is what Psalm 27:14 is telling us to do. It is not telling us to expect the worst, give up, make assumptions, or sit and worry. It is telling us to trust God for his reasons and wait on Him. Even if we are in the middle of a battle, if we truly trust God and have faith, then we should be at peace while we wait because we know God is in control. We are to be watchful of signs He gives us while we are waiting so that we stay on the path He has for us.

Now, I do have patience of some things. You have to have patience to be a good teacher. But, I also admit there are things I get very impatient for. My friends and family know if you want to drive me crazy just tell me you have a surprise for me. It will drive me crazy trying to figure it out. The unknown that I have no control over makes me very impatient. Where can impatience strike? It may be your job, family relationships, finances, etc. that needle at you. Another area a lot of people lose patience over is in the heart department. Often singles are so impatient to find Mr. Right or Miss Right that they don’t ask God or wait on God’s directions.

Stop, think, and pray. There usually are four reasons I can give you that God could be telling you to wait. The first reason is that He is still working to put into place key pieces of the puzzle for the situation you are in. You are praying for a new job and God intends to give it to you, but He is putting things into place right now and it is not ready yet.

Second, you are not where you need to be in your situation or in your faith and God needs to work on you and strengthen you first, so that you can handle what you must face in the future. This is not necessarily a bad thing it can be a good thing too. People don’t run companies well without the proper training and experience. God knows us better than we know ourselves and we must trust Him in these judgments.

The third reason works in with the second reason. The reason you may have been asked to wait is to test your faith. God wants to see if you are ready for promotion or for the relationship you are praying for, so He tests you by asking you to wait. If you have a strong faith, you trust God and turn it all over to Him. You know that He will make the best judgment for you. If what you want means as much as you say it does, than you are willing to make the sacrifices to get it and it is well worth the wait for it.

The forth reason is often the most painful one. This reason is because we are wrong and God needs time to make us see this and redirect us. The more blind we are to our faults, the more off the path we wander, the more stubborn we are to listen to God, the harder it will be and the longer it will take to get back in His light and on the path again.Oh yeah, God can answer our prayers with WAIT, but will we listen? When He tells us to wait, this is not just His opinion this is his call for faith and obedience. We can heed his warning and obey or pay the consequences. When we are asked to wait we need to find time to be quiet, step back, catch our breath, be calm, stop, think, pray, and not make any knee jerk reactions.

God does not leave us out there hanging alone as we wait. If you read the rest of Psalm 27 you will see that He is there for us and will protect us too. In Psalm 27 David refers to The Lord as his light and his salvation, the stronghold of his life, his fortress, his protection against enemies, his best defense, his confidence, his refuge, his rock of strength, his teacher, his leader, the one that is always there for him even when no one else is, the one he seeks above all others, and the one that he praises and shouts with joy for during his troubled times. Why would he be praising the Lord and shouting with joy in the situation that he is in, where his life is obviously in danger?
He is praising the Lord and shouting with joy because he has faith in the Lord and trust that God has already gone ahead of us and by faith He will lead us safely down the path that follows His will, to a place of safety and blessing.

So why can things go so wrong sometimes? I can tell you that we fall prey to our temptations, weakness, rash impatient judgment, or stubbornness. We don’t accept God’s command or we think we can work our way around it, or even bargain with God on it. God does not change His mind when He asks for obedience, God does not make bargains in exchange for obedience, and we can not sneak things past God either.

When we do not accept God’s judgment we take things into our own hands and try to run ahead of Him. We run past His light into the darkness and then have to look back to Him for help. In the darkness we don’t have clear footing so we stumble and fall. Then we are in pain and look back crying for God’s help. The further we have gotten away from the light and the further we have strayed from His path, the longer it will take to get back in the light and the harder it will be to get back on the path. We may have also sacrificed the blessings that God had intended for us in the first place. It does not mean He has given up on us and that we will never be blessed again.

We are God’s children and He loves us. We may need to face correction, redirection, and teaching, but He will never give up on us or leave us. Hebrews 13:5-6 says, “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’ So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?’" We need to free our lives of anything that we put above God and be content in the path God has planned for us. When we can do this we can be at peace even during the roughest times, because we have given control over to Him and no man or evil has power over God. When we are in the dark it is because we have moved away from Him, and not that He has left us.

So what do we do while we wait? Romans 5:1-5 tells us clearly, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.” We can rejoice because we know that God has a plan for each of us and His plans for us are perfect and all we need. You should be encouraged by that.

His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts and His timing is not our timing. God will do things in His time and in His way. By faith we must trust and believe in Him at all times. Isaiah 55:8-9 says, ‘“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.’” When you find yourself impatient you need to find a quiet place to refocus and pray. God tells us that if we are obedient, trust him, and wait on Him, He will give us the courage we need and strengthen our hearts. He will also give us the peace and contentment that will sustain us as we wait. We can focus then on what must be done and on serving others instead of being chained down to our worries and anxieties. Praise the Lord!

Waiting can be nerve-wracking and the anxieties can overcome us with temptations to rush ahead and try to handle things ourselves if we do not hold strong to our faith. Lust can take over for love, greed can overtake common sense, stubbornness can make us blind or shortsighted, weakness can give in to addiction or obsession, and impatience can cause us to make wrong rash judgments. Hindsight may be 20/20 and we can often see where God has tried to warn us not once, but several times, and yet we still chose to rush ahead into the darkness. When God finally does get our attention and we finally do trust in Him, He will brings us back to Him. Then, how many of us will ask, “What took You so long God?” What we really need to do is face our faults when God asks in return, “What took YOU so long?”

Please do not rush into relationships or make other decisions that can and will affect the rest of your life without the proper direction. Pray and wait on the Lord for an answer. Seek His counsel and then follow it, no matter how difficult it may be. Trust in God. Don’t give God time limits either. If your wish is to be a good Christian then it requires obedience, patience, and direction. Your best direction will be found in the scriptures. Measure all your judgments with God’s Holy Word. Proverbs 1:8-10 says, “Listen, my son, to your father's instruction and do not forsake your mother's teaching. They will be a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck. My son, if sinners entice you, do not give in to them.” What this is telling us is that we can also seek Godly counsel from others that walk in faith, and then use their counsel to be a stronghold for us.

For instance, if a man or woman you are interested in can not honor your life by faith then you should not have any part of that relationship, because you will always be tempted to stray from the faithful path God has for you. 1 Thessalonians 5:21 says, “Test everything. Hold on to the good.”
How can you put God first in your life if you can not focus on His will for your life? Psalm 37:23-24 says, “If the Lord delights in a man's way, he makes his steps firm; though he stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand.”

God is our loving Heavenly Father. He loves us and only wishes the best for us. Just like young children do not always understand the tough love parents must give their children, we will not always understand Gods command to wait. God wants you to ask Him for His help and guidance. He is your Heavenly Father and He will not withhold what is good and right for you. James 1:17 says, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” Psalm 119:165 says, "Great peace have they who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble.” You must make the choice now whether you will walk in His light or stumble around blind in the darkness by rushing ahead.

If you are in the dark right now seek His light. You can not be in His light and also live in darkness. If you have sinned or made mistakes by rushing ahead of God, STOP! Turn back, pray, ask for direction, and pray for forgiveness. 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” God will not give up on us when we fail. We must also forgive ourselves and others too in order to move on. When we call for Him, He will always lead us back to Him.

Are you in the valley right now with something you are dealing with in your life? Don’t rush into a relationship or a decision with impatience. Wait on Him and stay in the light.

FaithfulToOne © 2007