“If you are patient when you suffer for doing what is good, this is a grace before God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his footsteps.” (I Peter 2:21)
And yet patience, also referred in the Bible as endurance, is never easy. When a nonbeliever questions how a good God could allow suffering, I like to respond, “If Jesus had to suffer an agonizing death on a cross so you could be saved, why should we think that we won’t have to endure hardships, let alone one that awful?”
Whether it’s the sudden death of a loved one, the loss of a job or home or something else, chances are we have all been through hardship at one time or another. It’s just a matter of the circumstances. In my case, it was often about unemployment. I was out of work for nearly a year more than 20 years ago, but I still remember this period like it was yesterday. My faith was weak at the time, so I worried more than I prayed.
Sick to death of the uncertainty and pit in my stomach that came with it, I finally got smart and started reading my Bible. Proverbs 3: 5-6 and Jeremiah 29:11 proved extremely helpful and still do today. (I quoted them in my book Climbing out of Darkness: A Personal Journey into Mental Wellness, so I won’t do so here.)
Suffice it to say, I memorized both passages and pondered on them often. Whether I was alone at home, driving, or in a store, I would keep thinking about these verses and the more I did, the more I believed them. Before I knew it, I felt an incredible peace come over me even though I was still out of work and with no job prospects in sight!
(This was also when I realized why God was making me wait for a new job – because being diagnosed with depression and anxiety made my realize it was my disorders that were causing the problems more than the jobs themselves).
I wanted “a job,” God showed me much more, how to come to grips with, and then how to overcome a mental health challenge (thanks in large part to Fresh Hope). I can look back on this period and know that, whatever the circumstances are now, God indeed is in control, and it’s just a matter of waiting on His timing to reveal the answer. Oh, and eight months’ unemployment was a piece of cake compared to the 14 years I spent with my next employer! Talk about answered prayers!
If you’re fortunate enough to not have a vexing problem in your life, there are still things in life that test our patience. One of them is the different seasons. December is already a difficult time of year for those of us who live in the Upper Midwest with its snow, frigid cold, and fewer daylight hours. Getting laid off when I did, in the middle of winter made a bad situation worse.
While patience has always been a virtue, I dare say advice on this topic is more crucial than ever in today’s rush-rush, nonstop world. It wasn’t always like that. When I was young, you had to wait for the afternoon newspaper or evening news to learn what was going on in the world. Today, news is 24/7, even with our phones, when we are out and about.
But today’s hectic society doesn’t just involve news and scrolling constantly on our phones. Shopping in a brick-and-mortar store is becoming a thing of the past. We order nearly everything online and then expect next-day delivery. Even drive-thru restaurants don’t even seem fast enough, as many people will order ahead of time on an app. It seems no one can wait for anything anymore! And don’t be surprised if the driver behind you honks his horn if it takes more than five seconds for you to proceed on a green light.
I don’t understand self-checkouts either. I am almost never in such a hurry that I’ll choose to check myself out. Isn’t that what the employees are supposed to do? Waiting in line isn’t often as bad as it looks, but we think it is because we’re always in a rushed state of mind.
In other words, the worldly way of responding to impatience involves stress, anger, and frustation. Since God did not intend for us to live our lives at a breakneck pace, the result is the detrimental effect that anxiety and worry is having on our society’s mental health.
Patience on the other hand, teaches self-control, empathy, and maintaining a positive attitude. This is also discussed in the fruits of the spirit in Galatians. Even better, we know that as Christians, we don’t have to do this on our own. We have the Lord’s strength to respond with complete trust in the Father’s purpose and power.
Maybe Romans 8:28 says it best. It states that “all things God work together for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
The “all things” in this instance, include the things that try our patience. So the next time regardless if it’s being caught in a traffic jam, ridiculed in public, or my particular vice, computer problems – remember Romans doesn’t say that it’s just the “good things” that work together for our benefit but all things. I need to read and then reread, this paragraph the next time my PC locks up!
In conclusion, while patience takes time, it is always worth the effort.
Mike Jacquart belongs to a Fresh Hope support group in Wisconsin. A retired magazine editor, Mike enjoys sharing his story of “pushing through” on his book, blog posts, podcasts, and other presentations. For more information, contact him at michaeljacquart56@gmail.com.
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