Theme: Fruit of Patience
Text: Psalm 40:1-13
Greetings & Introduction:
The Lord is good; his love endures forever. I greet you all in the name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. We will meditate from Psalm 40, about the fruit of patience.
Galatians 5:22 mentions endurance as one of the slices/ traces/graces of the fruit of the Spirit of God. I want to leave with you three things related to longsuffering. Patience is a valuable character quality.
- Cultivate patience in personal life – Psalm 40:1-5
- Concentrate on Christ, the personification of Patience – Psalm 40:6-11, and
- Conquer the impatience through sufferings – Psalm 40:12-17
1. Cultivate Patience in personal life (Psalm 40:1-5)
The Psalmist says I waited for the Lord patiently. Because your thoughts are many, your plans are many than what I have (Psalm 40:5).
Albert Barnes says David expressed that “in waiting, I waited for the Lord”. Patience is essentially "waiting with grace." Part of being Christian is the ability to accept unfortunate circumstances gracefully while having faith that we will ultimately find resolution in God (ref: ibeleive.com).
Calvin Comments that David had been a long time in anxious suspense.
The dictionary defines patience as ‘the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset. ‘The ability to wait for something without frustration is a useful skill and a good aspect of one’s personality.
Patience can help us to achieve our goals. It maintains a more positive outlook on life. It makes us less reactive, in turn, will make us less prone to bad decisions. Stress, regret, and anger don't help anything. So when you're facing an uncertain future, a negative event, or something scary, take a minute. Don't do anything. Just sit a spell (ref: Countryliving.com/Kate Phillips).
Amanda Hess wrote an article in Washington City Paper themed ‘Patience is a (Feminist) virtue’ She said, “Patience is a virtue, possess it if you can. Seldom found in woman, never found in man.”
Elyse Fitzpatrick writes in Helper By Design on patience, a woman submitting to a man in the name of God, as the “power to endure without complaint something disagreeable.”
A man usually thinks on his wedding day that probably he has a perfect spouse—then he sets out to improve the spouse. Finally, he found that not she but he needs to improve. “When long-married couples asked the recipe for marital success, many identify patience as a key ingredient”.
The reading of the scriptures throw lots of ideas and ways to improve the virtue of patience. But, it directs us to cultivate the fruit of the Spirit of Patience. Paul wrote in Romans that Patience is a gift of God (Romans 15:6). It is obtained through the reading of the Holy Scriptures and meditating on the Word of God. (Romans 15:4, Luke 8:15). This fruit is nurtured through the prayers of the saints (Colossians 1:11).
Bible teaches us many valuable lessons on impatient persons. Impatient persons had lost their dignity and invited many troubles, struggles. They lost their lives. I like to cite few examples for our reference.
Sarah could not hold her peace in the case of the promise related to a Son. So, she invited her trouble from her salve girl Hagar and paved the way for the formation of a nation through Ismail (Genesis 16:2,12).
The impatience of King Saul brought irreparable loss to his children, family, and the entire generation. He offered the sacrifice without waiting for the servant of God. (1 Samuel 13:13).
Absalom could not wait for his turn and for the time of the Lord to enthrone him, and he lost the grace and was killed (2 Samuel 15:1-5).
St. Francis of Assisi said, “Where there is charity and wisdom, there is neither fear nor ignorance. Where there is patience and humility, there is neither anger nor vexation. Where there is poverty and joy, there is neither greed nor avarice. Where there is peace and meditation, there is neither anxiety nor doubt.”
St. Augustine described patience as the companion of wisdom.
We have a person called Christ who personified this virtue in his life and shown to the world Patience as a fruit of the Spirit of God.
2. Concentrate on Christ the Personification of Patience (Psalm 40:6-11)
Focus on Christ, who is the personification of Patience, an embodiment of longsuffering. He exhibited endurance in sufferings, insults and mockery. He never opened his mouth and established this virtue as one of the highest virtues with tolerance and forbearance.
Patient waiting upon God was a notable characteristic of Jesus Christ. Jesus never allowed impatience to lingered in his heart. Despite his agony in the garden of Gethsemane, his trial of cruel mocking before Herod and Pilate, and his passion on the tree, he waited patiently. There was no glance of wrath, no word of murmuring, no deed of vengeance came from this patient Lamb. Jesus waited and waited on, he was patient, and patient to perfection, far excelling all others (ref: biblestudytools.com).
Various translations use the words such as longsuffering, forbearance, patience to translate the Greek word makrothumia. It combines the roots Makro, meaning "long," and thumos, meaning "temper," so it means "to be long-tempered." It implies the opposite of "short temper," describing the mind holding back a long time before it expresses itself in action or passion (Martin G. Collins on Longsuffering).
There are two "powers" at work in the mortal body of every believer. Paul says the flesh continually sets its desire against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh. They are continuously in opposition to one another. These are contrasting powers between natural and supernatural. They bear two kinds of fruit; one is the sins of the flesh, and the other is the fruit of the Spirit (Precept Austin).
John Gill comments for Psalm 40:1 the word "waiting I waited" which denotes continuance, constancy, and patience. Christ exercised this in the garden when he submitted himself entirely to the will of God; and on the cross, when he continued in sure hope and firm expectation of his help and assistance, though he was for a while forsaken by him.
Boice says "These are the qualities of the life that has been claimed by Jesus Christ and is Spirit-led." The day you plant a seed that day you can’t eat the fruit. It has to grow, bud then gives the fruit. Patience is not instant, it takes time to grow. Natural fruit needs to be cultivated and so does spiritual fruit which needs to be watered and fed the Word in the soil and atmosphere of the Spirit.
Patience is one of the slices of the fruit of the Spirit. “Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord comes. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near.” (James 5:7-8).
God is most concerned with believers is not the offering of animal sacrifices, but the offering of their lives. It is not the mere performance of religious rituals, but the willing performance of all God’s will. God wants believers to open their ears to hear his instruction, then to carry it out willingly and joyfully (6-8). This principle was carried out perfectly in the life of Jesus (Bridgeway Bible Commentary).
3. Conquer impatience through suffering. (Psalm 40:12-17)
William Barclay, New Testament Scholar, says the word 'Makrothumia' is rich in content. The writer of First Maccabees ( 1 Maccabees 8:4 ) says that it was by makrothumia Romans who became masters of the world. The Roman persistence which would never make peace with an enemy even in defeat was a kind of conquering patience.
The most illuminating thing about Patience is that it is commonly used in the New Testament as an attitude of God towards men (Romans 2:4, Romans 9:22, 1 Timothy 1:16, 1 Peter 3:20). If God had been a man, he would have wiped out this world long ago; but he has that patience that bears with all our sinning and will not cast us off. In our dealings with our fellow men, we must reproduce this loving, forbearing, forgiving, patient attitude of God towards ourselves (ref: primobibleverses. com).
The Psalmist says that he had countless evils, sufferings and wickedness (Psalm 40:12). The righteous have many troubles and suffering, but the Lord rescues them from them (Psalm 34:17,19). Jesus suffered and shown longsuffering (Romans 15:6). Job is the best example. Prophets had gone through these experiences (James 5:10-11), suffering increases our patience (James 1:2-4, 19).
Patience must be found in the lives of the Apostles (2 Corinthians 12:12), in the Pastors and Bishops (1 Timothy 3:1, Titus 2:2), and the entire congregation (Ephesians 4:2). Clothe yourselves with longsuffering (Colossians 3:12-13). Be patient in sufferings (Romans 12:12). Aul set an example for a patient living (2 Timothy 3:10).
This is a very practical lesson. It has life only when it is proved in our day to day experiences and interpersonal relationships. Patience is not a theological interpretation, philosophical understanding but very much known to everyone and must be put into practice from the least to the highest, from the first to the last in the society. Simple frustrations, emotional disturbances and loss of control of the tongue could lead to great damage to the intra and interpersonal relationships.
Enduring Word commentary quotes the statement of Luther on Patience: “Longsuffering is that quality which enables a person to bear adversity, injury, reproach, and makes them patient to wait for the improvement of those who have done him wrong. When the devil finds that he cannot overcome certain persons by force he tries to overcome them in the long run… To withstand his continued assaults we must be longsuffering and patiently wait for the devil to get tired of his game.” (Luther)
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (James 1:2-4)
- Receives the Salvation of God (Hebrews 10:36, James 5:7, Revelation 14:12))
- Receives the consent of the Lords and Princes, Leaders of the world (Proverbs 25:15),
- Saves the souls (Luke 21:19)
