Plain Vanilla: Patience, Part 1

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Ok, today is Bible Study Day...and I haven't got a clue what the next study is going to be. So I dug back into the computer archives and pulled another excerpt from my writing on 'A Plain Vanilla Testimony'. Since I find myself rather impatiently fidgeting in some areas, this is appropriate for me, too...a reminder of the importance of patience.

God puts a big emphasis on the need for His people to be a patient people. Patience is:
- included in the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22)
- a key quality of love (1 Cor. 13:4)
- part of Paul’s prayer for the believers at Colosse (Col. 1:11)
- one of the characteristics with which we are to clothe ourselves (Col.3:12)
- to be a significant part of any preaching, rebuke or encouragement we offer others (2 Tim. 4:2).

We are instructed to be patient with one another (Eph. 4:2, 1 Thess. 5:14). Patience, in and of itself, bears fruit in our lives. In Proverbs 14:29, we see that patience brings understanding. Hebrews 6:12 states that faith and patience are required to inherit what has been promised.

If you have a promise from God, something that you believe God has spoken to you and has for you, you must believe and be patient in order to see it come to pass.

Now, being patient has three distinct applications. The first application of patience is to not give up, chuck the whole thing and go live according to the pattern of this world. Hang on. Don’t quit. Sure it’s hard, but what else are you going to do? It’s possible to get mad at God for taking too long to fulfill a promise He had given and so just give up working in the kingdom, saying, “Well, God, You’re not keeping Your end of the bargain, so I’m just going to go do what I want.” Now, I’m not implying that someone who reacts that way will go and live a grossly sinful life from that point on...he or she could just be giving up on the church God put them in and go somewhere else. Or they could quit dealing with the person God has put on their heart to win or disciple. Or, they could bail out of a marriage. The essence is the same: there is a conscious decision to not wait on God any longer. The pattern of this world is: if your situation doesn’t change, then do what you can to change situations. But God's people are to wait on God for either His intervention or His instruction.

There is a terrific example of this in 2 Kings 17. It’s a fairly familiar story, but there is a point to be made regarding patience in a tough situation that I want to bring out. You know the details – Elijah told King Ahab that there would be no more rain until he prophesied it, then God sent him to the Kerith Ravine. He stayed there, getting his drinking water from the brook and his food from ravens until God told him where to go next. Here’s the lesson – God didn’t tell Elijah where to go next until the brook dried up. Now, imagine you’re Elijah. You’re sitting there by this brook, all by yourself. At first it’s not too tough – there’s food every day and plenty of water. But, little by little, you see the brook dwindle from a stream to a trickle. If you’re like me, you begin to remind God where you are. There’s enough water for now…but the future begins to look a bit iffy. I think I’d be praying something like, “Hello, God? Could you increase the water supply, please? I’m getting nervous.” But, there’s no word from heaven, and the trickle seems to turn overnight into a series of muddy, stagnant puddles. Now, the water isn’t even nice to look at, let alone drink. It smells bad. There are bugs in it. I think it was at this point that Elijah really began to exercise his patience. The world’s logic would say: this creek’s drying up, and if survival is the goal, anyone who is counting on this creek for a water supply should perhaps go find a better source. But, Elijah knew something we would do well to remember: only God knows where to find water. Apart from His guidance, we will never find it for ourselves. So, Elijah stayed put. Eventually, even those yucky puddles dried up and Elijah had no water at all. But, still he stayed where God told him to stay. He was determined to do what God said, even if it killed him. The only evidence he had all this time that God hadn’t forgotten him was that the birds kept showing up with food. Not until the brook was dry and the water was gone did the word of God come to him and tell him to go and stay with the widow in Zarephath. The brook was dry and the water was gone...that's pretty extreme obedience.

But Zarephath was on the opposite side of the country, which meant Elijah had to make quite a trip. Now, God could have supplied him with all the water he needed right at Kerith, if that had been His plan. But there was a widow and her son who would’ve starved if God’s provision for Elijah had not extended to them as well. My guess is that God sent Elijah to the ravine so that he was hidden while Ahab’s men scoured the country looking for him. After they’d given up, it was safe for him to make the journey. Elijah needed the sojourn at the brook. (Based on Obadiah's remarks in 1 Kings 18:9 - 14, I suspect that, by the time Elijah left the brook, there had been enough false ‘Elijah sightings’ that Ahab wouldn’t pay any attention to the real one!) What would’ve happened if he had used the evidence of the failing brook to determine that God wouldn’t take care of him? He probably would have gone wandering off, trying to find a pool or stream somewhere that wasn’t drying up. In doing that, he quite possibly could have been discovered by God’s enemies. The ravens certainly would not have continued to bring him food.

So, Elijah waited until he got a clear direction from God...even when waiting went contrary to every logical course of action. I suppose Elijah was blessed in that he had no “friends” around him telling him that he was foolish for sitting by a brook that was drying up! He didn’t have to defend his actions to anyone but himself. You and I, however, may need to stop up our ears to avoid listening to well-meaning, reasonable-sounding advice that runs contrary to what we honestly believe God has instructed. We have to be ready to deal with misunderstanding and frustration from friends, relatives, and anyone else who feels a need to voice an opinion about our course of action. Elijah’s patience was rewarded by new, miraculous provision; remember that as you deal with situations that appear to be drying up. Don’t give up and quit, even when the situation looks hopeless and everyone whose judgment you value (and a few folks whose judgment you don’t) counsels you to give up and move on. If God has put you in a position or situation, and you know God put you there, then you really have only one course of action: Stay until He tells you to move.