“For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.” Hebrews 10:36

Waiting is defined as- the action of staying where one is or delaying action until a particular time or until something else happens. I recall the analogy of two individuals waiting for the bus to arrive one morning. On arrival at the bus stop, one rider checked his schedule, sat on the bench, and proceeded to read a book. The second rider checked his watch and became quite annoyed. He began to pace up and down the sidewalk. He ranted on about how unreliable the bus service was and that he would certainly be late for work if the bus did not come soon. After approximately ten minutes of this behavior the rider was sweating and extremely irritated. The first rider remained calm and looked down the street and saw the bus approaching, he stood and as the door of the bus opened, he kindly greeted the driver and stated, “I see that you’re right on time!”

We all have to wait for numerous things in our lives. The moral of the analogy is how we wait. We can wait patiently or impatiently. Our choices make an immense difference in our mental and physical well-being. Patience means that we can accept or tolerate the delay. Our society consistently makes waiting in patience a difficult task; we desire to have everything right at this very moment.

The early Jewish Christians were admonished to continue in their allegiance to Christ. They had already come through suffering and much hardship to that present time; consequently, they could hold on to their faith and wait for the promise of the Lord’s return. F.B. Meyers wrote, “Don’t miss the harvest of your tears.”  In other words, he was saying do not throw away your trust when your reward is so near, all the things that you have endured up to this very moment should only strengthen you. “For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.” Hebrews 10:36

Today we must also wait with patience for the Lord’s promises and imminent return. We do not have to rant or frantically pace up and down. We have the assurance by faith that our redeemer lives and will return again soon. So, we must pray for patience to endure this Christian race empowered with strength and grace. Hebrews 12:1 state “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,”

And as God’s beloved children, we do not wait as one without hope, but we wait on the faithful promised reward. Matthew 24:36 reminds us  ”But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.”

In the meantime, may God grant us the peace and the strength to walk this Christian journey in faith, striving each day to be witnesses of His goodness and setting our hearts on living a life that is pleasing to Him, and Him alone. “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.” Romans 1:17.

Stay encouraged…God is working things out behind the scenes!