Patience

I don’t know about you, but had I written Psalm 40, it would say, “I waited impatiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.”
I inherited my impatience from my parents. My dad would sometimes call one of my four older brothers (though there were 5) and invite them over for various reasons, and then he’d head to the window to watch for their arrival-as soon as he hung up. They usually arrived 2-3 hours later.
But my dad wasn’t the only desperate person around. My wife-to-be’s grandad was the same way. In fact, for our wedding, although I arrived early, she was already there! He lived under, “Time’s a wasting” and “We’re burning sunlight.” So, living about a full 7 minutes from the church, he giddy-upped in his car and drove her there in 2 mins time!
As I’ve written before, the wedding procession was so fast, that she had taken refuge in an office on the altar behind thick curtains, where no one could see her. After the bridesmaids walked the aisle, as people stared back to see her walking down the aisle, she instead just stepped down and took her place beside me. One could hear people saying, “When did she go by, I didn’t even see her!” Made for a fast wedding!
She and I laughed when on a Sunday, before heading to church, as we waited for our son to get up, his youngest son (4 at the time) told us, “Let’s go already!” We said we needed to wait for his dad. His response was, “Just leave him!”
This morning, as on other occasions, my mom called me at 7:29 so I could again contact the church bus driver to go pick her up because it was already ALMOST 7:30 and he wasn’t yet there!
Scripture tells us about the patience of Job (rhymes with lobe). He lost all ten of his children at once, and his cattle, got sores over his body, and a host of things he endured, yet, “In all this, Job did not sin by blaming God” (Job 1:22 NIV).
So, if you’re like me, you need to lean on Jesus’ goodness for help with your patience. But, whatever you do, don’t ask for patience! That would include a ton of trials to test you! Better to stick with King David’s words: “I waited patiently on the LORD…Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O LORD, let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me” (Psalm 40:1a,11).
God Bless,
Sam