Read: Psalm 25:1-10, Nehemiah 9:26-31, Luke 21: 20-24
“How long until Christmas?” my son Ben asks. The advantage of Advent calendars or count-down chains is that they give a visible answer to the question of time. My children find it difficult to understand the concept of time. To Olivia, “a long, long time ago” is any moment before right this minute, and when I tell Ben that Christmas is still a month away, he becomes dejected and whines, “But that’s forever.”
As human beings, we have a very poor understanding of God’s timing, and in our current culture, instant gratification is seen as a virtue. But imagine Israel in exile as they waited on the Lord’s promised freedom, as they waited for the promised Messiah to come. In contrast to common wisdom, scripture lauds the virtue of patience, it is listed as one of the fruits of the spirit, and even used to describe an attribute of God Himself.
R.C Sproul says,
“When the Bible speaks of patience, particularly as one of the fruits of the Spirit, and as one of the characteristics of love, it speaks of it as a virtue that goes far beyond the mere ability to await some future gain. It involves more than the rest or peace of the soul that trusts in God’s perfect timing. The patience that is in view here focuses more on interpersonal relationships with other people. It is the patience of longsuffering and of forbearing in the midst of personal injury. This is the most difficult patience of all.”
It is interesting to note in Luke 18, where Jesus tells us the parable of the unjust judge, that it is the long-suffering of the widow before the judge that brings about the desired result. Jesus asks the question, “And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them?” While encouraging us to not become faint during times of trial, He then starkly asks “And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
Jesus directly connects these two concepts of patience and faith. The long-suffering love described in 1 Corinthians 13 is the Christian virtue that is a direct reflection of the attribute found in the character of God.
So as we wait on the Advent of the Lord, crying out “How long O Lord?” Through faith, hope, and love, we can conclude as David did in Psalm 13,
“But I trusted in your steadfast love;
my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
I will sing to the Lord,
because he has dealt bountifully with me.” ~Psalm 13: 5-6
It is Peter in his second letter that brings the question of patience in waiting into the correct context.
“But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed.” ~ 2 Peter 3: 8-10
What we must understand is that our patient, long-suffering waiting is nothing compared to the temperance that God shows to the people he created and the world He loved so much that He was willing to send His son to die for it. As we wait for the Lord in his Advent, he waits for us in His perfect patient love that, “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
As I think of the waiting patience of our wonderful Redeemer and His perfect timing I can hear the ending words of “O Little Town of Bethlehem”,
“Oh little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep the silent stars go by
Yet in thy dark streets shineth, the everlasting light
The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.”
Blessings,
Jory
Reformed in Tualatin 