Be Patient

There is a tree called the Chinese Bamboo Tree which does not demonstrate any appreciable growth for its first four years. Then, in the fifth year, it will shoot up some 50 to 90 feet into the air. This amazing illustration from the natural world shows the value of patience. Sometimes progress seems unbearably slow. We might be close to giving up. But, then, just as our hope is fading, our eyes are opened afresh to the wonderful power of God to keep His promises!

There were those about whom Peter wrote in his second epistle who were mocking God’s word, saying, “Where is the promise of His coming?” (2 Pet. 3:3). They contended that all things continued as they had from the beginning–that God had never interjected Himself into the affairs of man. Peter reminded them of the cataclysmic events which occurred in the days of Noah when God destroyed the world of the ungodly by means of a world-wide flood. It is in that context that Peter describes the patience of God, saying, “But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:8–9). The patience of God is intended to lead us to repentance. Just because the present universe remains even after all these centuries is no indication of a lack of resolve on His part. God will keep His promise. The “day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up” (2 Pet. 3:10). Because He will come suddenly and without warning, we should “regard the patience of the Lord as salvation” (vs. 15).

God said, “My word which goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it” (Is. 55:11). God never lies (Hb. 6:18). We can rest assured in the promise of Christ’s return. James used the illustration of a farmer waiting for the produce of the soil as an example of our need to be patient, saying, “strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near” (Jas. 5:8). We should not expect that an infinite, eternal God should be constrained to operate on our time-table. While we eagerly await His return (Hb. 9:28), we join in the sentiments of the apostle John who prayed, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Rev. 22:20).

Glen Eliot