PATIENCE

LUKE 21:19 “IN YOUR PATIENCE POSSESS YE YOUR SOULS.” (KJV)
      “By your patience possess your souls.” (NKJV)
      “By your endurance you will gain your lives.” (NASB, RSV)
      “In your patience ye shall win your souls.” (ASV)
      “By standing firm you will gain life.” (NIV)
      “For if you stand firm, you will win your souls.” (TLB)

     Some things we know best by their absence. Patience is like that.

     My prayer for patience is usually, “Lord, give me patience…and give it to me now!”

     Most of us don’t understand why we refer to it as “the patience of Job.” That seems to be one of those “sayings” that we say but don’t really know what it means.

     Some quick Bible research would lead us to James 5:11 where the brother of Jesus said, “You have heard of the patience of Job…” Of course he precedes this at the beginning of the verse by saying “we count them happy who endure.”

     I understand Job’s endurance although I identify more with Job’s suffering. I guess I never identified Job’s struggles with patience as much as the endurance part.

     The slogan above is both sarcastic and funny. “I have the patience of Job but will flip tables like Jesus.” We tend to identify more with flipping tables (“making things right” in our own eyes) than we do with learning what patience is.

     The patience of Job involves dealing with trials in life. I have often found comfort in Job’s “lessons learned” when I have also had great difficulties. But what I really want to learn is how to “possess my soul” through learning great patience. Maybe the Bible can teach that to me too.

     Let’s see…patience is one of the fruits of the Spirit. We memorized Galatians 5:22 earlier and know that the fruits of the Spirit that should be growing in us are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness… Long list, but I knew that patience was in there.

     What I think I really need is enough patience to tolerate waiting at that stop light longer than I think I have available. Oh, patience to not get angry behind those semi drivers that insist on sitting in the fast lane just at the speed limit and blocking traffic would be nice to have. Patience to deal with intolerable people who insist on expressing their opinions about every aspect of life would be a great addition too.

     Hmm…some of these are starting to sound a little bit trivial. It seems like I get “put off” pretty easily by little things and I sure could use some of that Holy Spirit patience I don’t seem to have an abundance of… How will that let me “possess my soul?”

     I’m over 70 years old now…more than 60 years since I gave my life to Jesus. You would think that by now I would have mastered the aspect of patience that apparently is supposed to be a vital and very evident part of my Christian personality, huh? Unfortunately, it appears that I may not master this part of me until I get to heaven. Sigh.

     The deeper I study patience, the more I find my lack of it. Sometimes, I tire of even studying the concept. I probably just need more patience in my examination of patience…or the lack of it…in my life. Let me suggest three aspects of patience that I am still learning about.

     The most obvious aspect of learning patience is that it involves a lot of WAITING. The time aspect of this quality is probably the most frustrating to me. My life…maybe our whole culture of which I am a victim…tends to emphasize the aspect of getting things done NOW!

     The previous example of “traffic control” stands out in my life as the most obvious demonstration of the lack of patience in my life. Many times, just recognizing an apparently unthinkable approach to helping me with this is considering that I don’t really need to get where I am going faster…that it won’t hurt me drastically if I have to follow another driver in traffic.

     Sometimes, I have no choice in the matter. Across our entire nation, if an accident occurs on the highways that involves a death, law enforcement will completely stop all traffic until it can help those involved and investigate details of the event. In these situations, I have sat for hours waiting for traffic to start moving again. What an obvious interruption to my plans and my life as a whole!

     Have you ever had an event the Lord allowed in your life simply bring all you thought that was so vital and important to accomplish to a halt? A death of one you dearly loved can do this.

     A sudden reversal in your plans for your life can bring everything you thought was important to a sudden stop. These events can be allowed by the Lord so He can teach us the value of occasionally coming to a stop and waiting on Him to reveal other things that might be more important than the things we assumed controlled everything else.

     I appreciate the popular interpretation of Isaiah 40:31 that suggests that “waiting on the Lord” means serving Him, like a waitress might do for her customers. But I find it far more common that the Lord really wants us to slow down…maybe even stop…and wait on Him to show us what He wants us to see.

     Psalms 27:14 tells us, “Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage. And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord.” Lamentations 3:25 says, “The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.” Romans 8:25 says, “But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.”

     It sounds like WAITING is a pretty important part of our life in the Spirit we need to learn a lot more about. And, the perseverance part of this demonstrates a second aspect of patience that is absolutely vital.

     Patience is intimately linked with learning about endurance. To ENDURE means not only to wait when life calls us to waiting, but to tolerate, strengthen and grow through the many trials of life that will inevitably come. The temptation is to give up.

     Job is an enduring (pun intended) lesson that trials will come and patience cannot be developed without going THROUGH them, learning from them and “hanging in there” until you come out the other side. In 2021, my wife Cheryl had her first stroke. I took care of her for the following four years until the associated vascular dementia took her from me in 2025.

     Just after her stroke, I learned that I had prostate cancer with a prostate twice its normal size and a PSA of 32. After surgery to remove the cancerous prostate, I still needed 39 radiation treatments to bring my PSA to zero. Shortly after this, I developed severe back pain which ended up requiring spinal laminectomy surgery…only to leave me with a disabled back that will probably be with me for the rest of my life.

     Job’s wife would have counseled me to “just curse God and die.” (See Job 2:9) Not a great prescription for developing patience through endurance. I prefer Job’s own quote from Job 13:15 where he proclaims, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” That is endurance! That is patience.

     Many years back, someone produced a silly poster of a little cat hanging by its claws to some bar with the slogan, “Hang in there, baby!” It was intended to teach the lesson that “hanging in there”…enduring what life throws our way that often seems unbearable…is the only way to make it successfully to the other side.

     The natural temptation is to give up (“just curse God and die.”) The other side of perseverance and endurance is that attainable goal of patience that I hope we all desperately want. Patience is only developed by hanging in there.

     There are so many lessons the Bible can teach us about developing patience in our lives that prove that it is a vital goal in our Christian lives. I have stated before that I hoped in writing these books on “Hiding the Word” in our hearts, they would not become long doctrinal lessons on the topic…remember, the goal is to memorize this short verse: Luke 21:19 “By your patience possess your souls.”

      However, the third (and certainly not last) lesson I would suggest that we learn about developing patience in our lives is that it requires a lot of FAITH. The concept of “possessing my soul” cannot be understood without first acknowledging that we have souls that need to be “possessed.” That requires faith.

     Hebrews 11:6 reminds us that “without faith it is impossible to please God.” Any Godly patience that we achieve in our lives cannot come without recognizing that it only comes from Him.

     Believe me. I can prove through the testimony of my life that as valuable as developing patience in my life can be, I have always failed to develop it in my own strength. As a matter of fact, I am convinced that only viewing the quality of patience through the eyes of faith, and the Lord’s ability to develop it in me, can I ever see how truly God-given this gift can be and how unattainable it is on my own.

     It is probably true that only through faith in Him, the giver of those gifts of the Spirit, and my reliance on Him to provide it…especially in times of deep need…that I will ever have it in the abundance that I need to ever come close to becoming more like Him. Whew, that is a long sentence. I hope you were patient with me as you read it. Maybe read it again.

     Only faith in Him teaches me that I need to possess my soul in the first place. Only by Jesus’ own example can I see that possessing my soul is even possible. So, what we see here is that “possessing my soul” is a good thing and something, as a Christian, I want. And, the only way to get there is through patience.

     We not only want patience because it is one of the gifts of the Spirit that we all desperately need in our goal to become more like Jesus. We also want patience because it can give us that seemingly-mysterious quality of “possessing our soul.” Experience keeps demonstrating to me how far away from “possessing my soul” I am. But applying the truth of this Scripture tells me I CAN possess my soul…whatever that means.

     Apparently, through developing patience, I can arrive at a point where losing my temper over silly situations can become a thing of the past…sounds like possessing my soul. Life lessons have taught me that I can endure whatever the Lord allows to come my way because He promises He is with me and will never allow me to suffer more than I can handle. Also, through them, I can learn patience, develop spiritual strength and grow more into the likeness of Christ.

     hat sounds a lot like learning to “possess my soul.” That sounds a lot like lessons worth learning, no matter how hard they may be. That sounds a lot like learning patience in my life should be one of my highest goals.

     Questions to consider: Why does patience seem so hard to achieve in our lives? Besides traffic, what are the life situations that test your patience the most? How does patience play a part in husband-and-wife relationships? Who tests your patience the most? What trials in your life has the Lord allowed that you can see developed your patience? What does “possess your soul” mean? Is it possible to express patience without love?

     Other Scriptures to Study: James 1:3-4 “…knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” Romans 12:12 “…rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer;” James 1:2 “My brothers, count it all joy when you fall into various trials.” Ephesians 4:2 “…with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love.” Psalms 37:7 “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way.” 2 Corinthians 12:9 “My strength is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Timothy 3:17 “…that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”