Developing Patience And Perseverance In An Impatient World Introduction
There was once a young man with big dreams. The boy knew his dreams came from God, but his family didn’t agree.
His parents humored him. “Sure, honey, you can do anything you want to in life.”
His brothers were not as understanding as his parents. They were quite angry that, according to the young man, they would bow down and grovel to the boy in the dreams he described.
It was bad enough that their little brother was the favorite in the family, arriving when Dad had already made it and was reconciling to the fact that he probably wouldn’t have any more kids. “The child of my old age,” Dad used to say.
He had turned 17 and was almost a man. But Dad let him dress up in fancy clothes and kept him back from doing the hard work in the fields. What a sissy. Then one day, they found their chance to get even.
So begins the saga of Joseph, spanning many chapters of Genesis. Joseph’s tale is one of the most revealing stories of how to demonstrate patience that the Bible tells.
Read and Learn More How Leaders Can Cultivate Patience in an Impatient World ?
Amidst the drama of family jealousy, abuse, sex scandals, royal intrigue, and natural disasters, Joseph’s unwavering patience as he waited on God’s will is a lesson for us all.
A lesson we seem to need every day of our lives.
I often wonder if the Bible has so many lessons for how to develop and demonstrate patience because it is such an unnatural way to think in this world. It seems like as soon as we set a goal, various obstacles start to get in the way, keeping us from achieving this aim.
We, in turn, become impatient with other people, the situation, and even with ourselves.
Satan knows just where to strike once we’ve set a goal. And he uses our impatience as a prime way to keep us from focusing on and trusting God. What happens when we are impatient? The symptoms evidence themselves in different ways for everybody.
You may get upset and angry, quickly lose control, and have bursts of temper and blame. You may burn out quickly or become pessimistic. Perhaps you will discard relationships, jobs, or organizations when things don’t work out as you expected.
Or withdraw from a situation when you don’t see immediate results. You may just go through life with an underlying dissatisfaction, never happy or joyful. Ultimately, impatience will lead to depression and the feeling that you just can’t cope anymore.
Joseph certainly had the right to experience all these impatient feelings, and yet his story over the course of fifteen years tells another tale.
Joseph suffered ridicule and verbal abuse from his brothers. Those same brothers eventually beat him up, threw him into a deep hole in the ground, and sold him to passing merchants for a few bucks.
Joseph’s life got even more complicated. He became a servant in a prosperous home in Egypt, and dutifully performed his assignments until his master gave him a prominent position managing his household.
Before long, the lady of the house got the hots for him and did her best to seduce him. When Joseph said no, she stole his clothes and lied, accusing him of attempting to rape her.
Thrown into bondage again, Joseph endured the indignities of prison life and made friends the best he could with his fellow inmates.
Through this, Joseph kept the dreams that God placed in his heart alive and his eye on the goal. He probably still didn’t see how he would become a great leader, but Joseph knew God had those plans for him, and he was willing to wait it out.
One day, Joseph used his ability to interpret dreams to help out a couple of fellow inmates who had previously worked in Pharaoh’s palace.
If his analysis was correct, their dreams foretold that the baker would hang in three days, and the Butler would be cleared of blame and restored to his previous position. Here is the part of the story where Joseph shows humanity that we can relate to.
He begs the Butler to share his story and get Joseph out of jail already! Was Joseph FINALLY demonstrating some impatience of his own by trying to mold the situation to his liking? Or was he merely using the tools available to him to play an active role in God’s plan for him?
We struggle with the same question in our lives, and, like Joseph, we may never know the answer. Because once Joseph’s prediction came to pass and the Butler was restored, he forgot to remember Joseph, who wasted away in jail for another two years.
As you can read in the 41st Chapter of Genesis, Joseph’s story does have a good ending. The Butler eventually remembered Joseph, and Pharaoh freed him from prison after Joseph interpreted the Pharaoh’s dreams.
The Pharaoh placed him in charge of all of his land to manage a coming famine. Joseph saved Egypt from starvation, reconciled with his family and they all lived happily ever after in Egypt.
How did Joseph endure those fifteen years and still come out on top? Any one of the many trials he encountered over the years could have been enough to send him over the edge. But instead, Joseph remained patient with his life, the people around him, and with God.
What is patience? Just waiting for something to happen doesn’t accurately define patience. If I have a good book, I can sit and wait for as long as is needed. That doesn’t make me patient, however, because the wait isn’t uncomfortable or troubling at all.
Dictionary.com defines patience as the bearing of provocation, annoyance, misfortune, or pain; without complaint, loss of temper, or irritation. But the story of Joseph, together with many other lessons in the Bible.
Teaches us that patience is not merely tolerating trials as a matter of necessity. Patience is enduring through a tenacious determination of will; to resolutely overcome the negative things we encounter, according to God’s will.
Joseph didn’t passively ignore his situation or quietly accept his lot in life. He remembered at all times that the Lord was with him and that He had a plan for Joseph’s life.
With that in mind, Joseph was able to endure the times of trouble, stress, need, and anger, and remain faithful to stay the course.
The Bible uses these other phrases also to describe a patient spirit: slow to anger, long-suffering, enduring, and persevering. The dynamic characteristics of each of these phrases suggest that merely waiting won’t improve our fortune faster.
We will still struggle with our children, look for more money at the end of our paycheck, and have to wait for that annoying family in front of us at the supermarket.
But what these do hint at is an optimistic persistence caused by a peaceful mental attitude that helps us to be relaxed rather than frenzied while we wait. We don’t ‘check out’ of life; we sincerely look for opportunities to pursue our goals.
With optimistic persistence, a delay becomes more tolerable, and a job becomes easier. We are productive and enjoy the process more when we are patient with our circumstances.
In Luke 18:1-8, we read:
Jesus told them a story showing that it was necessary for them to pray consistently and never quit. He said, “There was once a judge in some city who never gave God a thought and cared nothing for people. A widow in that city kept after him: ‘My rights are being violated. Protect me!’
He never gave her the time of day. But after this went on and on he said to himself, ‘I care nothing of what God thinks, even less what people think.
But because this widow won’t quit badgering me, I’d better do something and see what she gets otherwise, I’m going to end up beaten black-blue by her pounding.”
Then the Master said, “Do you hear what that judge, corrupt as he is, is saying? So what makes you think God won’t step in and work justice for his chosen people, who continue to cry out for help?
Won’t he stick up for them? I assure you, he will. He will not drag his feet. But how much of that kind of persistent faith will the Son of Man find on the earth when he returns?”
The above story suggests three different types of patience that we should all work toward developing in our lives: patience with other people, with our circumstances, and finally, with ourselves.