Make Patience a Priority

Isaiah 40:27-31, Taught by Pastor Tom Lacey at Church on the Hill, December 10, 2023

During a long car trip home once again, I stood in line inside a Starbucks waiting to order a coffee. Not just because I do that when I’m stop in like this on a trip but also because the car line was at least 15 cars long. Ok, so quick aside: what the heck were 15 carloads of people doing Sunday afternoon waiting in their cars at Starbucks? First, why couldn’t they turn off their cars, cut the CO2 emissions and go inside to get their coffee? Seriously, the line was at least 15 cars long. We’re talking easily half an hour in that line while the inside line was less than half that time. Second, I had a darn good reason to be at Starbucks on Sunday afternoon at 5p.m. needing coffee. I still had over five hours to drive after already driving 7 hours to get home. I couldn’t go home and make my own coffee for fifty cents rather than pay $4.50 or more. Why would so many people pay so much money, wait in a line for so long, when they can do that at their own homes? I must be missing something.

Anyway, as I was waiting to order, some guy started to seriously complain about how long it was taking his personal Starbucks servants to make him his over-priced latte. By the time I joined him in the wait after ordering, he grew entirely fed up, demanded his money back and walked out. In the time it took to get his money back and walk to the car, his latte was probably already done.

Slow service is reality. Not because people are slow, but because people are people and get to be themselves, whether we like it or not, agree with it or not. What do we do with reality we don’t like? Are you impatient, angry? Do you feel you’ve been personally insulted or disrespected? Or, can you do better, much better than you have? I’m sure we can all do better at being better when we’re not getting what we want when we want it.

We need to become more patient. The capacity to wait is so important. Scripture makes waiting a big deal. The Bible talks up patience. It says it’s essential. Psalm 37:14 tells us to “Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage.” Another verse goes further when it says that we should “rest in the Lord and wait patiently.” We don’t just wait, but our wait can provide us with rest. Resting gives the idea that we are reserving ourselves for something more important, something else that will come our way, and we will need to be ready when that appears.

So many people burn themselves out with their impatience. Too many struggle against the current of what God wants for their lives. They tire themselves out by reaching for what isn’t going to be theirs. But God’s truth is that not getting what we think should be ours right now isn’t our defeat. Patience permits God’s promise to materialize. Resting gives us a fresh heart and spirit to go about making the most of what will soon stand before us. Prepare the way of the Lord by being patient. Take heart. Rest in God while you wait.

This time before Christmas is a season of waiting for the Advent or coming of Christ. Messiah’s arrival was waited for a long time. In Christ, the good news of God with us, Emmanuel, came to pass. In the babe of Bethlehem, God’s love and salvation came to earth, dwelled among us, full of grace and truth, calling us to lives that express the goodness and power of God’s hand is upon us. To do this we make patience a priority. Be willing to wait for God’s good things to arrive. Persevere in doing what’s best and right, so that you’re prepared to receive the promised blessings of God’s gifts to you and for others. If we wait for the Lord, our strength shall be renewed.

But waiting of course isn’t something we do easily. One of the reasons why waiting is so hard is because it seems like we’re not doing anything. Waiting feels like we’re stuck in one place, don’t have any options, can’t exercise our right to get something done that we want done. It makes us feel and look like we’re weak and ineffective, especially today. I mean my gosh are things fast. Things move so fast it’s like impatience is the virtue now. And jeepers, do we love that speed, especially technological speed. Wait ten seconds to let a webpage load? Are you kidding? Get a faster connection! Wait five seconds for a document to print? What the heck is wrong with this printer? Wait to let yourself cool down before sending that email or posting that social media rant? Are you kidding? Go, go, go! You snooze, you lose, that’s our motto. So, if anyone needs to learn the Advent virtue of waiting on the Lord, it’s us.

It's like the story told about the person who called American Airlines and asked the reservation clerk, “How long does it take to get from Dallas-Fort Worth to Frankfort, Germany?” The clerk had to wait a moment for the information to come up on the computer screen, so she said, “Just a minute.” The caller responded, “Thanks very much,” and hung up! Most of the things that matter in life don’t happen in “just a minute.”

The fact is a lot of life doesn’t move at our speed. People don’t drive as fast as you want them to. The person in front of you at the grocery store, yep, her credit card isn’t working. We might complain about a delayed flight at the airport but think about it for a minute—this is nothing compared to traveling for months to cross the Atlantic in the Mayflower or taking months to cross the plains in a covered wagon and get to the Oregon country. We might complain about being stuck in traffic – yet even on bad traffic days we are often making far more progress across town in a warm comfortable car than people did in times past – with no traffic. Even with all our delays we obviously don’t wait at all compared to others.

Noah had to wait something like a hundred years until what he was talking about came to pass. You know, even if it’s not the same time scale we use, it’s pretty obvious scripture talks a lot about time, and how much of that valuable stuff it takes to see something important happen. Abraham and Sarah, as well as Zacharias and Elizabeth, waited until late in life to have a child. Moses waited forty years before God called him and then spent another forty years leading a murmuring and complaining people. 

 As a pastor, I know a thing or two about waiting and being patient. You know the pew pads on the back of the pew, the ones you’re comfortably resting your back against, well, they weren’t always there. Only the seat ones were there for many years, and they were kind that moved around. Maybe ten years ago, I brought up to one of the church teams that we should move forward and put back cushions on the pews. The idea was strongly resisted. “There was no need for them.” “If someone needed something like that then maybe they didn’t belong here.” “It was too expensive.” Those were the responses, and the vote went against getting the back pew pads. I had to wait. Do you know how long it took? It took over three years from when I suggested we needed to improve our sanctuary with back pews cushion before we got them in place. But they’re here, and I’m glad they are. So are you, I’m sure.

As Proverbs says, “She who hurries her footsteps err,” or as one translation reads, “Impatience will get you into trouble.” Wait. Believe. Hope.  

Paul said that he had learned to be content in all circumstances in which he found himself, but it isn’t just contentment that can be learned. The same is true for patience, perseverance, or kindness, and peace, and so on. They all need to be learned. Because this is true, no one has the excuse that, “I wasn’t born a naturally patient person.” Nobody is born patient. Have you ever seen a patient baby or toddler? I haven’t. Consider patience to be a muscle that needs exercise. Build yours by working it out wherever and whenever you’re being challenged not to honk your horn, not to fume at someone’s inability to get you what you want quickly enough, not to get depressed because someone is working against your plans. Instead of resenting times in which we must wait and the people making it so, we need to realize that such times and people help us to develop patience. As the Letter of James points out: Patience culminates in a good outcome, like when “the farmer (who) waits patiently for the precious produce of the soil.” 

Of course, there are times when patience is not what is called for. We need to know when waiting isn’t the answer, when instead what’s needed is the right push to get something done now. Like when a farm boy accidentally overturned his wagonload of corn in the road. The farmer who lived nearby came to investigate. “Hey, Billy,” he called out, “forget your troubles for a spell and come on in and have dinner with us. Then I'll help you get the wagon up.” “That's mighty nice of you,” Billy answered, “but I don't think Pa would like me to.” “Aw, come on, son!” the farmer insisted. “Well, okay,” the boy finally agreed. “But Pa won't like it.”

After a hearty dinner, Billy thanked his host. “I feel a lot better now, but I just know Pa is going to be real upset.” “Don't be foolish!" exclaimed the neighbor. “By the way, where is he?” “Under the wagon.”

 Yeah, there’s a time to be patient and a time to pull dad out from under the wagon.

When we’re not getting what we want, perhaps it’s because God wants something else for us. It’s easy to think we see what’s best for us, but that’s not always true. We think we’re one kind of person when God knows we’re another kind. We consider ourselves right for this position, or that person, or that place, but if we’re honest they don’t fit us. Not really. It’s not fun to get moved away from where we thought we belonged; but what’s best, and right, and real, and who we are isn’t always easy to find and get to. But the Lord can get us there—in time and with God’s timing, it happens. So, make patience a priority. Prepare yourself for something else. Persevere so that you can be found faithful in what God has given you or will present to you. Because it’s coming!

Can the church say Amen?