I was listening to a podcast today on patience and it hit me right where I’ve been. More that I’ve been impatient than patient. When things are going well, patience is not so much a problem but, oh boy, when things are rocky, patience seems to go out the window. Reviewing my goals and the progress, well, lack of progress, also pushes against being patient.
I was reading Psalm 16 in the Passion Bible
5 Lord, I have chosen you alone as my inheritance.
You are my prize, my pleasure, and my portion.
I leave my destiny and its timing in your hands.[e
6 Your pleasant path leads me to pleasant places.
I’m overwhelmed by the privileges
that come with following you,
for you have given me the best!
7 The way you counsel and correct me makes me praise you more,
for your whispers in the night give me wisdom,
showing me what to do next.
8 Because you are close to me and always available,
my confidence will never be shaken,
for I experience your wrap-around presence every moment.
I’m coming to see that some, perhaps, much of my impatience stems from turning my focus from His timing onto what I have to be doing to fulfill my goals/tasks/destiny. This morning as I was listening for Father God’s direction, He reminded me of promises He has made, especially relating to my business. He pointed out that the root of patience is trusting Him, that when the impatience settles in it is an indicator of misplacing my trust. From trusting Him to depending on myself independent from Him to some degree. I let my circumstances draw my confidence away from Him to striving to fix my problem right away.
Another robber of patience is fear. When I look at my goals and the progress I’m making, fear is there ready to shift my focus and steal my confidence and patience. So another indicator that impatience has is exposing fear.
Perhaps impatience can be used after all, to alert us of misplaced trust and/or some fear. Once those are identified then we can work on those. What are your thoughts on this?