Patience: the Missing Virtue

“For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise” (Hebrews 10:36).

In the 1960s, when psychological studies in the U.S. first began truly to go off the rails, Stanford researchers conducted a study that today is simply referred to as “the marshmallow test.” In this overly simplified version of the experiment, a child was given a marshmallow with the promise that, if he refrained from eating it for 15 minutes, he would be given a second marshmallow. Assuming that the researcher is trustworthy, the time is not urgent, and the child likes marshmallows, waiting is the better choice. Patience and self-control win the day.

In 2 Peter 1, both self-control and patience appear in the list of holy affections to add to your faith. Both disciplines are usually thought of in the negative; that is, if you fail to control yourself, or if you do not wait for God to fulfill His Word, then you will sin and lose God’s reward. However, in the text above, patience is a positive virtue. Patience is the action that allows us to fully apprehend God’s promises.

In case we have missed the point, here it is again. God makes promises to His people that He intends to fulfill. Hebrews 6 uses the example of God’s promise to Abraham that he, the patriarch, would be multiplied and blessed. When He made this promise, the Lord took an oath upon the greatest, most permanent, and most trustworthy authority—Himself. Of course, we know “it was impossible for God to lie” (Heb. 6:18), and so the promise was as good as fulfilled. Except for one thing: the timetable. When would Abraham see God fulfil His word?

The time frame in which God fulfills His promises and makes good on His word is always longer than we expect. Not only do we need faith to believe God; if we intend to experience the full riches of His promises, we must follow the example of such men as Abraham, “who through faith and patience inherit the promises” (Heb. 6:12, emphasis mine). God’s promises require both.

It's well and good for us to recognize Hebrews 6:15 as a logical implication: “and so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.” It’s only natural, we think as we read Genesis, that Abraham waited long years for God to give him a son. The full promise to Abraham, we understand, did not even happen in Abraham’s own lifetime. But these verses are not just God commending Abraham for his faith. God intends for us to live within that pattern as well. “And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end: that ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises” (Heb. 6:11-12). And again, here is Hebrews 10:35-37: “Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.”

Faith and obedience are a good start. But we should not think that our great faith and steadfast obedience will be quickly rewarded. We should learn that third virtue: waiting and bearing up under the circumstances and difficulties of life while holding fast to God’s promises. Eugene Peterson called it “a long obedience in the same direction.” It is very likely that God may do the greatest work in our family or church or town or nation after we have prepared the way for it by obeying him, and then after we have gone. After all God’s promise to bless and multiply Abraham didn’t end with the birth of Isaac. Abraham himself knew that. God had given him an illustration in the stars of the night sky. “Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be” (Gen. 15:5). Abraham knew he would be long dead when God kept that part of the promise. However, Abraham believed God (Gen. 15:6), and knew that, when God gave him a son, the rest would come as well.

None of us can see the full scope of God’s promises in our lives, or through us in the lives of others. We know by experience, and by Scripture, that much of God’s working is puzzling, seemingly disconnected, painful, and mysterious. We do not know what He is up to. However, this is the way God works. It is the only way He works, especially as we expand the scope of His promises. Acts of faith and obedience are not necessarily hard. However, they are often necessarily monotonous. Each action bears little or no obvious fruit. Instead of being discouraged, we should instead be encouraged to look into the future in faith, like Abraham did, to see the end of God’s promises.

One final note so Hebrews 10:36-39, the verses we will conclude with, makes the most sense. We can only be patiently obedient in an area we are convinced God is working. If you are not persuaded God is drawing everything, including your seemingly negligible actions, into His fulfilled promises, you will not endure. Once you are confident though, for God’s sake don’t quit!!! “Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.”

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The above article was written by Jonathan Kyser. He is a pastoral assistant at NorthStone Baptist Church in Pensacola, FL. To offer him your feedback, comment below or email us at strengthforlife461@gmail.com.

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