116 Sermon Illustrations on Patience

Fishing, of course, is faith. You have to focus on each cast as if it were the very one that is going to produce the fish of your dreams. In fact, on almost every cast nothing happens. Maintained faith through blankness repeated hundreds of times is the sport’s essential discipline.

In Ian Frazier’s case, he tried to put the fly in the exact spot he thought a fish would be and, when he received the usual nothing in return, often he lost interest and sulked. “You gave up on it! Stay with it!” his friend Fred said whenever he saw Ian do that.

Fishing is faith, but it is not blind faith. Fred always fished out each cast and gave each little piece of water his hopeful attention. Ian saw him get huge strikes when his fly was on slack current a few feet from the tip of his fly rod. Meticulous care was his liturgy. He waded dexterously, watched an expanse of good water for a few minutes before he fished it, stayed calm when he saw a big fish. Fred Snook caught many trophies.

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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #1934]

“Tribulation worketh patience.” Romans 5:3.

Tribulation is a thorny tree, but it yields sweet fruit. Usually, given the proper soil, the thornier the tree, the sweeter the fruit. Mark well: our text is not just the expression of a hope that tribulation may work patience; it is the statement of a fact, that tribulation actually does so in the true Christian character.

Moreover, in these words and their context, Paul is photographing his own experience. His having borne excessive tribulations was no empty boast (see again 2 Cor. II:23-28) and even in his impetuous nature tribulation had developed this virtue of mellow maturity, “patience.”

It is a good, practical test-question to ask ourselves, “How do I behave under tribulation? Does it engender patience within me?-or its opposite?” You and I have not been called to go through tribulations such as beat upon Paul, but in any lesser way that we have incurred tribulation for Christ’s sake, how have we borne it? Could we truthfully exult with Paul, “We glory in tribulations also; knowing that tribulation worketh patience”? — or have we been resentful, squeamish, panicky? Our text raises two aspects which it is well to ponder. First, here is the true Christian attitude: “We glory in tribulations also.” Second, here is a good spiritual reason for it: “Tribulation worketh patience.”

So, then, the true Christian attitude is to “glory in tribulations also.” This is the Christ-like attitude; for in John 12: 32 our Lord calls His very cross a being “lifted up”, or exalted. It is also the only worthy attitude. See the other things in which we glory: “justified” (verse 1); “peace with God” (1); “access into grace” (2); “hope of the glory of God” (2). Shall we glory in these superlative wonders of our salvation, yet unworthily shirk temporary tribulations on earth? Nay, glorying in tribulation should be the accepted attitude, as it was long ago with the apostles, who “rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name” (Acts 5:41). Present trends seem to suggest that before long many of us may be called to endure tribulations who have hitherto escaped. We should never aggravate needless hostility; but if tribulation should come, let us count it an honour to suffer for the Name. Of course, the word “tribulation” in our text may well include cares, troubles, sorrows, bereave ments, bodily sufferings, but it especially covers all those penalties and persecutions which come upon us because we are Christians.

Finally, let us never forget the good spiritual reason why we should “glory in tribulation”, namely, that “tribulation worketh Patience”, and patience is a God-like virtue. Patience has been defined as the capacity to endure calmly, confidently, and without complaint. That is surely a mark of rich spiritual maturity; and if tribulation begets it within us, then even tribulation is a blessing. Ought we to hate the flames which purify the gold? Dear Lord, help us even to “glory in tribulations”!

When tribulations jag and irk,

Let Patience do her perfect work.

The very Captain of salvation

Was “perfected” by tribulation,

And turned the thorns to diadems!

Have you ever noticed that God is not in a hurry? It took 40 years for Moses to receive his commission to lead the people out of Egypt. It took 17 years of preparation before Joseph was delivered from slavery and imprisonment. It took 20 years before Jacob was released from Laban’s control. Abraham and Sarah were in their old age when they finally received the son of promise, Isaac. So why isn’t God in a hurry?

God called each of these servants to accomplish a certain task in His Kingdom, yet He was in no hurry to bring their mission into fulfillment. First, He accomplished what He wanted in them. We are often more focused on outcome than the process that He is accomplishing in our lives each day. When we experience His presence daily, one day we wake up and realize that God has done something special in and through our lives. However, the accomplishment is no longer what excites us. Instead, what excites us is knowing Him. Through those times, we become more acquainted with His love, grace, and power in our lives. When this happens, we are no longer focused on the outcome because the outcome is a result of our walk with Him. It is not the goal of our walk, but the by-product. Hence, when Joseph came to power in Egypt, he probably couldn’t have cared less. He had come to a place of complete surrender so that he was not anxious about tomorrow or his circumstances.

This is the lesson for us. We must wait for God’s timing and embrace wherever we are in the process. When we find contentment in that place, we begin to experience God in ways we never thought possible.

Is patience difficult for you? A man in Los Angeles, California was arrested for negligent discharge of a weapon after shooting his toilet bowl five times with a .38 caliber handgun. He claims that he just got upset. He couldn't take it any longer. His daughter had flushed a hairbrush earlier in the day and clogged the pipes. So he shot the offending toilet. I have no word on the toilet's condition, but the man's patience was long gone.

I once learned a valuable lesson about patience. I came across a box turtle while walking home one day. I brought him home to examine a little more closely. My intention was to keep him for a few hours and let him go.

I put the turtle down and waited for him to come out of his shell. He didn't. I pulled up a chair and waited some more. He didn't budge. I sang to the turtle. Still no appearance. I told turtle stories. I coaxed him with food. But nothing worked.

Finally, I had to leave. So I barricaded the porch in case the turtle decided to leave, too. After all, I still hadn't gotten a closer look.

The turtle decided he had had enough. When I returned, the porch was empty. He apparently didn't think much of my barricade.

I learned a valuable lesson from that turtle. He just bided his time and waited. He wasn't much interested in food, songs or stories. He only wanted me to go away. So he patiently waited until I left. Then he left, too.

It's been well said: “Hold on; hold fast; hold out. Patience is genius.” Be a genius. Be patient.

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Steve Goodier, copyright 2004

I recently decided to do a Bible search on the subject of waiting. I was astounded at the number of passages that talk about waiting on God. It is not just one biblical writer who speaks of waiting on God in positive terms; the blessings of waiting are extolled throughout the entire canon of Scripture (see, for example, Psalm 27:14, Isaiah 30:18, Lamentations 3:24-26, Hosea 12:6, Micah 7:7, Romans 8:25, 1 Corinthians 1:7, James 5:7, Jude 1:21).

Conventional wisdom tells us that good things are worth waiting for. This is not the point that these verses make. They tell us that waiting is itself a good thing. Take Lamentations 3:24-26: “I say to myself, 'The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.’ The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.”

Lately I have been wondering why God so often sends us into the school of waiting. Does He send us there so that we will learn our lesson and never have to wait again? Or does He send us there to learn to savor times of waiting (times that will inevitably come again and again), to learn to look at them as opportunities to draw close to the heart of God? In his book WAITING ON GOD, Andrew Murray makes these observations:

At our first entrance into the school of waiting upon God, the

heart is mainly set on the blessings which we wait for. God

graciously uses our needs and desires for help to educate us for

something higher than we were thinking of. We were seeking

gifts; He, the Giver, longs to give Himself and to satisfy the

soul with His goodness. It is just for this reason that He often

withholds the gifts, and that the time of waiting is made so

long. He is constantly seeking to win the heart of His child for

Himself. He wishes that we would not only say, when He bestows

the gift, 'How good is God!’ but that long before it comes, and

even if it never comes, we should all the time be experiencing:

it is good that a man should quietly wait. 'The LORD is good

unto them that wait for him.'

What a blessed life the life of waiting then becomes, the

continual worship of faith, adoring, and trusting His goodness.

As the soul learns its secret, every act or exercise of waiting

becomes just a quiet entering into the goodness of God, to let it

do its blessed work and satisfy our every need. ...Waiting

becomes the habit and disposition, the very second nature and

breath of the soul.

We will all have times of waiting, whether we like it or not. Our choice is either to pursue the disposition of quiet waiting or chafe in frustration against the mantle we've been given to wear. And though waiting quietly may go against every tendency in us to fix and control circumstances and people, waiting allows us to step back and watch God do what we cannot. In stark contrast to the maxim “God helps those who help themselves,” the prophet Isaiah tells us:

Since ancient times no one has heard,

no ear has perceived,

no eye has seen any God besides you,

who acts on behalf of those who wait for him (Isaiah 64:4).

This is the God we serve, the God who asks us to wait while He works. The waiting will not last forever, but it is not to be avoided or short-circuited. There is not some level of sanctification that, when reached, makes waiting unnecessary. Let us not desire to graduate beyond waiting; let us seek to know God in our waiting. No eye has seen and no ear has perceived any God like Him.

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Copyright © 2006 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. "A Slice of Infinity" is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

Does your church have a clock on the back wall? We once had a preacher whose sermons were so long that we thought he was using a sun dial — or was it a calendar! Just kidding.

Patience. Eph 4.2-3. Here’s a little e-mail hint that some may not know. When sending e-mail, it is a generally recognized unwritten law that sending e-mail in all capital letters is the equivalent of shouting, and it is suggested that using all caps is poor e-mail etiquette.

On occasion I get an e-mail from a reader with Unsubscribe in all caps. I usually assume that something I said that day met with that person’s disagreement, but that’s O.K. I fully understand that with 1400 daily readers from every walk of life and a great variety of church backgrounds, there is absolutely no way everyone will agree. If they do, I haven’t challenged anyone to think about their faith.

It’s reassuring to me that when we look back from eternity, all the petty things that divide us now will be forgotten and won’t matter. With eternity in mind, I don’t pay much attention to all of our picayune theological sniping.

Eph. 4:2 & 3 (nlt) “… Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults. Always keep yourselves united in the Holy Spirit, and bind yourselves together with peace.” Peace — that has a nice ring to it! Let’s work toward that goal.

When I was about 8 years old, my family had a bunch of people over for a pool party. I was so excited to jump in with the crowd until my parents told me that since I’d just gotten over being sick, I’d have to sit this party out.

I was disappointed, to say the least. I had my very fashionable goggles and was ready to go, only to find out that “for my good” I would have to sit on the sidelines, by myself, when everyone else was having a party. To my 8-year-old social life, this was devastating. All the people were there, the pool was right there -- all I had to do was jump in! I was supremely bummed.

But later, as I was sulking on the porch, my parents surprised me with the reason for the restriction: In just a few days I’d be getting on a plane and traveling 3,000 miles to see my favorite childhood friends. My little 3rd grade heart was elated. All of sudden I didn’t feel so left out. Another sniffling nose or ear ache would have made for a rather miserable trip. Then I realized that what seemed like a joy-stealing restriction was actually a preparation. Once I realized what was coming, I didn’t mind temporarily sitting off to the side.

While the days of pool parties may have passed, there are still times when it seems like I’m sitting on the sidelines, waiting for some divine revelation to make sense of all the “whys.” Maybe you’ve been there too, asking God: Where do I go from here? What’s the next step? Is this ever going to change?

Sometimes we feel stuck waiting for the answer. Or, perhaps we’ve convinced ourselves that we have the answer, but God doesn’t seem to be on the same page. The solution is seemingly right there -- you could just jump in! But, for whatever reason, you’ve been given what seems like a joy-stealing restriction or another closed door and you’re left wondering whether God really is the caring, involved Father that He says He is.

But learning to wait on the Lord seems to be an unavoidable aspect of the Christian walk. Miles Stanford said, “God does not hurry in His development of our Christian life. He is working from and for eternity! So many feel they are not making progress unless they are swiftly and constantly forging ahead” (Principles of Spiritual Growth). If the pace of our lives is in His hands, then even our seasons of silence are for a purpose that goes way beyond our current circumstance.

In fact, one biblical woman shows us that how we wait for God is just as important as what we’re waiting for Him to do. Hannah had wanted just one thing from the Lord -- a son. After enduring years of being reproached in her society, ridiculed by the child-bearing second wife, and perhaps feeling forgotten by God, she pleaded with the Lord: “O LORD of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life” (1 Samuel 1:11). She prayed, wept and poured out her soul. Then, without any guarantee that the Lord would even fulfill her longing, Hannah got up and “her face was no longer sad” (verse 16). She trusted the heart of God even before she knew His answer. She had surrendered herself to whatever He had in store.

But what’s even more striking about Hannah’s request was her focus. In the deepest cry of her heart, her focus was still not on her own happiness. She had already determined that, should God give her the one blessing she wanted, she wouldn’t hold onto it for herself. Hannah vowed that if the Lord gave her a son -- the one thing in this life that she wanted -- she would give that son back to the Lord, dedicating him to His service.

Perhaps we can learn something from this woman in waiting. Hannah surrendered to trusting the will and timing of God, even if it meant giving back the very blessing she’d hoped for all these years. God did give Hannah a son (1 Samuel 1:20), and Hannah gave her son back to God (1 Samuel 1:28). It was only when she determined to give God glory in whatever He chose to give her that she was finally blessed with it.

It’s true -- we don’t have any guarantee that our specific request will be given. If you’re anything like me, it’s easy to hear Hannah’s story and think “OK, great! All I have to do is want God’s will above all else and then He will have to say yes!” Our hearts could be entirely surrendered and yielded, and in the wisdom of God, our circumstances may stay the same. But perhaps what Hannah’s story would teach us today is that when we pursue God for who He is more than for what He can do, our waiting seasons don’t have to be miserable. When we rest in the truth that the same God who ordered our steps (Psalm 37:23) is our loving Father who wants only our good, and gives only good things to His children (Matthew 7:11), then our seasons of waiting can become times of expectant hope. What may seem like a setback or a delay is actually His perfecting preparation. Like Hannah, when our hearts are more intent on displaying the reality of God than obtaining His blessings -- when we let go of those hopes we cling to so tightly and surrender to His perfect will -- perhaps then we come to a place where He can act for and through us.

What do you find yourself waiting on today? Will you trust that even in your seasons of silence, God has a refining purpose? Sure, you could jump into the convenient, “quick-fix” solution, tired of feeling restricted and like you’re on the outside looking in. But God has promised that He is good to those who wait for Him (Psalm 27:14) and that if you’re called according to His purpose, He will work all things together for your good (Romans 8:28).

He has only good in mind for you! Even more, The Lord has already promised that He will fulfill His purpose for you (Psalm 138:8) and that none of those who wait for the Lord will be ashamed (Psalm 25:3). Will you trust His kind intentions for you, even when it feels like you’ve been forgotten? Will you wait for Him to act when it seems like you’ll never see the results?

“For since the world began, no ear has heard, and no eye has seen a God like you, who works for those who wait for him!” (Isaiah 64:4). Will you wait on the Lord in your waiting season?

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This column first appeared at BiblicalWoman.org, a blog of Southwestern Seminary. Katie McCoy is the editor of BiblicalWoman.com

Read James 5:7-8

Jesus said, "A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish. So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy." -- John 16:21-22 (NIV)

It was already three weeks past the day I had expected to deliver my baby. I was getting anxious, warding off thoughts of misfortune and wondering what might happen to my baby due to my prolonged pregnancy.

As I meditated on James 5:7-8, I compared myself to the farmer. The farmer willingly waits for the "precious fruit of the earth." I was expecting the precious fruit of my womb. Both the farmer and I have to wait.

In a similar way, we must wait for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. From our point of view, his coming may seem long overdue. The longer we wait, the longer we experience trials and persecution. However, as we wait for the arrival of Jesus, God is producing the fruit of the Spirit in our lives.

After another week of waiting, I finally gave birth to a healthy baby boy. Waiting for his arrival helped develop patience in me.

What helps you to trust God as you wait?

PRAYER: God, help us to be still and know that you are God. Show us that you work to bring forth the fruit of your Spirit even when it looks as if nothing is happening. Amen.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

God is at work while we wait.

Marlene Legaspi-Munar (Batangas, Philippines)

PRAYER FOCUS: Expectant mothers

From The Upper Room, September-October 1998 Copyright (c) 1998 The Upper Room.