“The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” Psalm 145:8
This morning, as I was getting my “time blind” little one out the door to the bus, I found myself frustrated with one of the many limits I live with…time. It’s one of those blessings that sometimes feels like it’s an enemy. We all fight against it at some point. It’s either going too fast or too slow and either way, it can be aggravating and agonizing.
The truth is that time is just a tool. I know that. It doesn’t slow down just because I’m waiting or speed up to steal a moment of joy. It’s simply one of the gifts God gave us because He knew we couldn’t handle everything happening all at once. Looking at my day planner, I’m actually a little glad that everything doesn’t happen all at once.
One of this year’s award-winning movies called “Everything Everywhere All At Once” explores the concept of living outside of time, and I think paints a pretty good picture of why we need time. God has the power and ability to live outside of time. I don’t. My anxiety went up just watching the trailer for this movie as the main character is thrown from one setting and time period to another. Yet that experience makes her realize just how important living in her own time really is.
Time Gives Value
It’s true that what we spend our money and time on shows our priorities. Unlike God, who is timeless, I have a limited amount of time on this planet. God knows the number of days I’ll have to live in this body before I get my new one with Him in Glory. So, what I spend my time on matters.
I’ve spent years with a “to do” list longer than I could ever imagine finishing, but how many of those things were a priority? I’ve had to sit back and ask myself many times what has the greater importance. Now that God has cleared many of the things off my list, it’s a lot less overwhelming. I clean the house to show my family I love and care for them, but when I have to choose between getting their laundry done so they have clothes to wear and helping with homework, I have to consciously decide which action takes priority. When I set aside time to write, I have to balance my own writing with other people’s projects. The amount of time I give to any specific activity adds up to show what I value. That also raises the question of how a prioritize my time with God.
Time Means Waiting
One of the hardest parts of living with the limit of time is waiting…and waiting means patience. Patience is in the character of God, but definitely not in me. I’m learning patience. He IS patience. Patience is in His very nature. He cannot be impatient. It’s easy to mistake God’s justice, or handing us over to the consequences of our own choices, as impatience. However, the truth is found in 2 Peter 3:9. God is slow to anger. He wants to give everyone the opportunity to turn to Him.
Word Study: Patience
There are six Greek words New Testament writers used that we translate as “patience”. The most common is “makrothymeo” which implies extended time and suffering. It’s often translated as “patiently endure”.
Any athlete will tell you that building endurance takes time. I remember one of my former students who one day in class announced he was going to be on the basketball team. “Athletic” wasn’t a word I’d use to describe him, and the coaches discovered during tryouts that he couldn’t run a lap around the gym without stopping to catch his breath. He’s spent no time practicing or getting in shape. He hadn’t taken the time to build his endurance.
The Hebrew word for “patience” also has a colorful background. The exact meaning is “slow to anger”. The Bible Project did a short video about it I’ve included below. While the New Testament authors often focused on patience as an attitude of love, most Old Testament references use the word patience in terms of wisdom and character. Either way, my patience (or lack of patience) shows in my attitude. As God shapes my character and grows me in wisdom and love, it will show outwardly in my attitude.
That’s convicting. How many times in the last week alone have I complained about having to wait to see doctors and get answers? Or how many times have I complained about my kids and the process we’re working through raising them? How many times have I lost my temper or let other people influence my perception? Patience is the ability to work and wait with an attitude of love.
Timing Is Everything
Priscilla Shirer related a story about her niece at the beginning of her lesson on God’s Limitless Patience (see below). Every time her niece wanted to eat, the girl’s dad would put her in her high chair. But she would escape and go back to the refrigerator wanting to eat. She just didn’t understand that her dad was putting her in the right place at the right time to get what she needed.
I’ve been there. Not in the high chair, but I’ve been where I thought I needed to be to get what God had to give me, but in reality, I wasn’t anywhere near where God wanted me to be. Most of us can relate. Our timing isn’t God’s timing. Giving that control back to God and trusting He knows what’s best for us can be agonizing. I think of the many times I’ve been stuck waiting, and they pale in comparison to the experiences of some of my friends. They’ve been stuck waiting for the oncology report concerning their child or stuck in the hospital waiting room not knowing if a family member was still alive. Waiting isn’t fun on a good day, yet God told us to wait patiently.
But God Took His Time
Years ago I did a study on how Christ fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies, and the one thing that struck me was God’s timing. In order for many of those prophecies to be true, Christ had to live and be born in an empire such as the Roman Empire, with its improved roads and common language. And that common language was introduced by an earlier Greek Empire. In fact, if you look at all the different kingdoms and empires that ruled over the nation of Israel in the Old Testament, you begin to see how they each contributed some component of their culture to the one in which Jesus was born. Without God taking the time to allow those cultures to share their influence, the prophecies about Jesus would look very different.
See, before that study, I often wondered why God didn’t just send Jesus immediately after sin entered the world. Why would a God of mercy withhold His greatest gift for centuries? The answer is simply that a gift given at the wrong time is no gift at all. I’ve heard several pastors compare it to giving the car keys to a 16 year-old versus a 5 year-old. The waiting time makes us appreciate the gift. The best gifts are those we are mature enough to appreciate. God knew exactly what He was doing in sending Jesus when He did. While I may still question His timing at times, I can rest in knowing that God has limitless time on His hands to shape my character into something that looks more like Him.
Bible Project: Character of God
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeQ1nq_YJD0
Priscilla Shirer: God’s Limitless Patience
