Devotion / Being Patient

Keep calm, Albert!

A man was walking through a supermarket with a screaming baby seated in his shopping cart. A woman standing nearby overheard the man say again and again, “Keep calm, Albert. Keep calm, Albert.”

Finally, admiring the man’s patience, the woman walked up to him and said, “Sir, I noticed how patient you are with little Albert,” to which the man replied, “Madam, I’m Albert!”

Patience is something people lack because we are so used to having what we want, when we want it. We want those new shoes now. We want that nasty cold to go away now. We want supper ready now. We want an answer to our question now, and we will be disappointed and angry if we are told we have to wait. We get impatient when the car in front of us doesn’t move as soon as the light turns green, when we have to wait in line at the checkout, when the computer slows down, or when the book we ordered takes an extra day to arrive.

Impatience isn’t new. Remember how impatient Abraham and Sarah were after they were promised a son? Jonah said he even wanted to die when his patience ran out, and Martha’s patience ran thin with her sister when she said to Jesus: “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” (Luke 10:40).

Are you patient with God?

Have you ever been impatient with God? Have you ever been in a situation where you were in a hurry but God wasn’t?

 There is a person in the Bible who is known for his patience. His name is Job. Job lived comfortably with his seven sons, three daughters, 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 donkeys, servants, and a beautiful house. But then everything went wrong.

In only one day Job lost everything. Job was broken physically and emotionally. He felt that God had deserted him. Job said: “If I go to the east, he is not there; if I go to the west, I do not find him.  When he is at work in the north, I do not see him; when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him.”

God’s patient with us

But then Job’s patience began to show. He continued: “But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold” (Job 23:8-10).

Job showed us what patience is all about. We must think of Job the next time we become impatient because things don’t happen like we want them to. Can we even begin to imagine how patient God is with us? He was so patient that he hung on a cross and died for our sins. That took heavenly patience and love.

By Reynold R. Kremer