And the Bible gave me a gentle nudge – Patience (1/3)

There are countless lessons to inspire us in the Bible and while I think no human has the capacity to fully understand the Scriptures in all its complexity, by the time I finished reading the Bible, three words came to my mind: Patience, submission and humility.

Let’s start with the first one: Patience is a virtue that not all of us have. I know I don't! But how important it is for us to understand the beauty and benefits of patience, because while patience helps us deal with what we can't control, impatience on the other hand gives us anxiety and is a terrible advisor! And many of the most interesting people of the Bible shared one trait: they were patient. What can we learn from their stories?

Patience – it’s not about 'me'

Abraham received the promise of Yahuah when he was 75 years old and was communicated of a covenant with his next generations. Yahuah told him that his seed would multiply like the stars in the sky. However that promise was not fulfilled before he was a 100 years old. And he obeyed Yahuah’s instructions nevertheless.

Can you imagine hearing something like that when you're 75 years old while being married to a barren wife? Abraham was not anxious, though. But Sarah, his wife, was not only feeling that she was not meant to be the mother of Israel, but also felt like a failure as a woman. And she was so guilty that she asked her husband to lay with her maid Hagar, which would bring to life her son’s descendants’ biggest enemy.

Of course, Yahuah knows what He is doing and even Sarah’s decision was planted in her heart by the Ruach Ha’Qodesh, for we needed that story in the Bible to teach us about trusting the Father and not interfering with His timing.

But going back to Abraham, he was patient and in peace with the promise of Yahuah. He never doubted the Father’s word. He did question Yahusha (who appeared to him as an angel of Yahuah) whether it would still be possible for him to father a child with a woman on her 90’s and long past her menopause, but once Yahusha told him ‘everything is possible for the Creator’, he was in peace and waited.

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11

Another great example of patience was David. He was anointed king of Israel when he was in his teens and only got his promise fulfilled when he was 30 years old. And David had the chance to kill Saul to get his kingdom earlier, but he resisted the urge to ‘give destiny a hand’ and remembered that a person anointed by Yahuah cannot be murdered. He waited for his promise to be delivered at the Father’s time, not his.

When Moses escaped the Pharaoh’s castle and went on exile he waited more than 50 years before Yahuah spoke to him to give instructions on how to deal with the Israelite in Egypt. In the book of Yasher, it is mentioned that for 40 years he was a king in the land of Cush and afterwards Jethro kept him another 10 years incarcerated in his house before his daughter convinced Jethro to release him. While I’m not sure if this story is trustworthy, the fact is that Moses was indeed decades on exile until all the Egyptians who wanted to kill him were dead.

Noah was warned about the flood 120 years before the first drop of water fell on the ground and the Creator did not tell him exactly when it was going to start, He simply told him to start building an arc, preach for the people to give them a chance to change their ways and when his effort failed, he was instructed to find his sons wives and wait for the animals to come to the arc and close it. How much trust it requires to blindly obey!

When Isaac married Rebekah, she gave birth to Jacob and Esau 20 years after they were married, when Isaac was 60 years old. That is a lot of patience! He grew up learning about the promise of his father, he had a big responsibility, but he also knew that once he had a woman and he was fulfilling his obligations as a husband, getting his wife pregnant was not under his control anymore – so he waited. His wife Rebekah was anxious, so she asked him to pray for her. And that’s how the Father prefers us to do. Instead of ‘taking matters into our own hands’, like Sarah did, Rebekah asked her man to use his ‘direct line’ with Yahuah to grant them their children. And so Yahuah did!

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to Yahuah. Philippians 4:6

Jacob went to Laban’s house to escape his brother Esau and he feel in love with Laban’s daughter Rachel. Jacob worked for seven years in exchange of getting married with Rachel and after being deceived by Laban and getting Leah instead, he had to work another seven years so he could finally marry the woman he wanted. Rachel was not blessed with a child before a few decades and Joseph was born when Jacob was already in his old years.

How about Joseph, who was sold into slavery by his own brothers and after a married woman’s intrigue he was incarcerated in Egypt for 12 years!! Can you imagine being wrongly arrested for 12 years in a strange land and still keep your faith strong in the Father? Well, Joseph did it!

And these are just a few examples, the Bible is full of stories of patience and resilience. And these stories are not there by chance, the Father wants us to understand how we should respect His timing.

Patience is our way to trust the Father and put our lives into His hands. How important is patience, especially now, when we get spoiled with overnight deliveries, fast food, fast connection. Seconds of waiting can feel like torture! But our time is not the same as the Father’s. For him a thousand years is like a day and 40 generations is a blink of an eye, for He is eternal.

We have a tendency of trying to understand Yahuah from a human point of view when He is not human! When we waste our limited time on earth trying to figure out the Creator’s reasons, we forget to make Him the center of our lives. And to be a believer is to wait and trust, resisting a big enemy of our connection with the Creator: our emotion.

‘A Christian emotionally excited acts hastily. It is extremely hard for him to wait on the Lord, to know the will of God, and to walk step by step in that will. Indeed, the Lord’s people are incapable of following the spirit unless their emotion is truly yielded to the cross. Let us remember that out of a hundred impulsive action scarcely one is in the will of God.’ (The Spiritual Man p. 215)

Emotions cloud our spirit and for me the best example of how impatience can screw us up is the episode of the Israelite once they left Egypt. When Moses was absent for only 40 days, his people were so impatient that they asked Aaron to give them a god to worship and express their gratitude. The result was the infamous golden calf incident.

Are there examples where the Creator acts quickly in the Bible? Dozens! But it was when He so wished! Yahusha (Jesus) had to wait at least 30 years before he could become a Rabbi in Israel. He was Yahuah incarnated, he knew his mission and his connection with the Father was ‘real time’. Still, he had to wait to make himself known and start fulfilling the prophecies.

And is the Creator patient? Absolutely! How many times have the Israelite sinned against Him and how many times has the Father forgiven before He scattered them in the world? Countless! Were we in Yahuah’s place, would we be so full of mercy at His people’s constant rebellion? I bet not! But our Father is after all, slow to anger.

In our limited small span of time in this life on Earth, we can choose to be ‘independent’ and defend ourselves from the countless balls being thrown at us or make our lives a tribute to our Creator and let Him deal with our life. How much time is too much time to wait? Too much time for whom?

These question should not be for us to answer once we come to terms with the fact that life is not about us.