Can You Wait Patiently?

HAVE you learned to wait​—to wait patiently? That is a lesson that the Creator, Jehovah God, might be said to be wanting to teach us earthly creatures. And this he does both by his Book of Creation and by his inspired Book, the Holy Bible.

You cannot speed up the days, seasons or years. Nothing that you or anyone else on earth may do can accelerate the revolution that the earth makes around the sun in 365 and one-fourth days. Neither can anyone hasten the seasons or the pace at which the earth rotates on its own axis. Each day takes twenty-four hours.

The farmer sows his seed, but then he too has to wait. He cannot hurry matters much, if at all. For some crops he has to wait several years. His exercise of patience is set before Christians as an example for them by the disciple James: “Exercise patience, therefore, brothers. . . . Look! The farmer keeps waiting for the precious fruit of the earth, exercising patience over it until he gets the early rain and the late rain. You too exercise patience.”​—Jas. 5:7, 8.

Jehovah God himself sets us an example in waiting patiently. Thus the apostle Peter tells us that “the patience of God was waiting in Noah’s days, while the ark was being constructed.” Likewise God exercised patience with his ancient wayward people of Israel “until there was no healing.”​—1 Pet. 3:20; 2 Chron. 36:15, 16.

Jesus Christ, God’s Son, also set a fine example of waiting patiently. He knew, as can be seen from the prophecies found at Revelation chapters 19 to 21, that it was God’s purpose for him to wipe out all of God’s enemies. And although upon his resurrection he had the will and the power to proceed against his enemies, he “sat down at the right hand of God, from then on awaiting until his enemies should be placed as a stool for his feet.”​—Heb. 10:12, 13; Matt. 28:18.

Furnishing us another fine example of waiting patiently is David the son of Jesse. As a mere boy he was anointed by the prophet Samuel to be the future king of Israel. He showed himself to be Israel’s chief warrior by single-handedly slaying the giant Goliath, and in battles against the Philistines he slew ten times as many as King Saul. When hunted like a dog by envious Saul, David had several opportunities to slay Saul and so take possession of the kingdom that God had assured to him. But no, David was willing to wait patiently until the time when ‘Jehovah himself would deal Saul a blow.’

Waiting Patiently for an End of Wickedness

THE matter of patiently waiting has a direct bearing on the question many lovers of righteousness ask: “Why does God permit wickedness?” There are some who argue that wickedness proves that God is not deserving of worship. According to them, either God is unable to stop wickedness and therefore is weak and so not deserving of our worship; or he is unwilling to stop wickedness and therefore is not just and good and so likewise does not merit being worshiped.

What about these objections? Are they sound, incontrovertible? By no means! Jehovah God has a due time to end wickedness. His Word tells us that he had a certain time to destroy the wicked in the flood of Noah’s day. (Gen. 6:3) He had a certain time for freeing the Israelites from Egyptian slavery. That is why he did not at once destroy Pharaoh and his military might when that Egyptian king refused to let God’s people go. As God himself told Pharaoh: “For this cause I have kept you in existence, for the sake of showing you my power and in order to have my name declared in all the earth.”​—Ex. 9:16.

Similarly, only when God’s due time came did he send his Son to the earth: “When the full limit of the time arrived, God sent forth his Son . . . that he might release by purchase those under law.” Truly, “for everything [God has] an appointed time, even a time for every affair under the heavens.” How wise it is therefore for us to wait patiently for God’s time for things to take place!​—Gal. 4:4, 5; Eccl. 3:1.

ASSURANCES THAT WICKEDNESS WILL END

That God will, indeed, bring an end to wickedness he makes clear in his Word. Why, from the very beginning he gave a prophecy that righteousness would triumph, when he told the Serpent, Satan the Devil, that his head would be bruised by the seed of the woman, which seed proved to be Jesus Christ.​—Gen. 3:15; Rev. 12:9; Rom. 16:20.

Thus God repeatedly assures us by means of his psalmists: “Just a little while longer, and the wicked one will be no more; . . . but the meek ones themselves will possess the earth.” “Come, you people, behold the activities of Jehovah . . . He is making wars to cease to the extremity of the earth.” “All the wicked ones he will annihilate.” And in the Bible’s last book we read that Satan and all his agents will be destroyed and that, not only wickedness, but even sorrow, pain and death will be done away with.​—Ps. 37:10, 11; 46:8, 9; 145:20; Rev. 20:1–21:4.

Not without good reason therefore does Jehovah God tell us to wait patiently for him: “Keep silent before Jehovah and wait longingly for him.” Rather than rising up violently against wicked conditions, as so many are doing today, leave it to Jehovah to straighten out matters. As the prophet Jeremiah said after the destruction of Jerusalem: “Good it is that one should wait, even silently, for the salvation of Jehovah.”​—Ps. 37:7; Lam. 3:26.

AIDS TO WAITING PATIENTLY

What will help you to wait patiently for Jehovah to act and to end wickedness? One great aid is hope, based on faith. To the extent that our faith is strong our hope will be bright. To keep our hope bright we must keep refreshing our minds on God’s promises regarding the future. Another aid is to appreciate the wisdom of waiting patiently. To chafe frustratingly or to take matters into one’s own hands can only make matters worse.​—Rom. 8:24, 25; 12:19.

Another great help is joy. “The joy of Jehovah is your stronghold.” Joy gives one strength. It was joy that gave Jesus Christ the strength to wait and to endure. And even as hope is built on faith, so joy is built on appreciation. To the extent that you appreciate God’s goodness, your present blessings, the pleasures of association with fellow Christians, the privileges of telling others the truths of God’s Word as Jesus did, you will have joy and be able to wait patiently.​—Neh. 8:10; Heb. 12:2.

Being Patient in Your Relations with Others

THERE are other aspects of waiting. Waiting may well be the course of wisdom in one’s everyday relations with others. A young man may be courting a young lady. Either he or she may be hasty about getting married. But wisdom would indicate not hurrying matters unduly. Courting gives couples fine opportunities to get to know each other better and to adjust to each other. As has well been said, “Married in haste, we may repent at leisure.”

Then again, an employee may be very industrious and ambitious for advancement. Here again, instead of chafing impatiently, would it not be better to make the best of all opportunities that lie before one to prove one’s worth and to increase one’s skills? It often happens that when one no longer frets and chafes but becomes content, then a change for the better takes place.

Patiently waiting is also the course of wisdom in the family circle. Business matters, or other circumstances over which he may have no control, such as heavy traffic, may make a husband late in coming home. Instead of fretting impatiently, how much better for his wife to give him the benefit of the doubt!

On the other hand, in certain matters the wife may show herself slow, requiring the husband to learn to wait patiently. Being angry will not help. He may be able to help her to organize her affairs so as to be more punctual. But, when the schedule does not work as planned, rather than chafe impatiently, how much better for the husband to heed the advice of the apostle Peter and ‘deal with his wife according to knowledge, assigning her honor as to a weaker vessel, the feminine one.’​—1 Pet. 3:7.

Or it may be that a fellow Christian alongside whom you are obliged to serve has a weakness that grates on you and of which he might not even be aware. Or he may repeatedly trespass, requiring you to forgive him, as it were, “seventy-seven times.” Here again it is well to learn to wait and have patience with him. He may not be making as rapid progress as you would like to see, but with the years there may be progress nevertheless. Also here God’s Word has wise counsel, namely, ‘with long-suffering put up with one another in love.’​—Matt. 18:21, 22; Eph. 4:2, 3.

Truly it is the course of wisdom to learn to wait patiently. It results in benefits to ourselves and to those about us. Jehovah God has his laws governing the universe, and he has his own timetable for fulfilling his purposes. He will not change his timetable to suit us, any more than we can cause him to change or hasten the days, seasons and years. Faith, hope, joy and appreciation will enable us to follow the wise course of learning to wait patiently.