Battling Unbelief: Impatience

It seems that most things don’t move at the speed I would like them to: getting my children to bed is too much of a challenge, shopping with my family takes entirely too long, check-out counters and cars are always moving too slow. There is no question about it, I’m impatient (and these are just the little things in life!). I’ve never really thought much about my impatience. In fact, many times I’ve justified my impatience as “righteous impatience” because I’m just trying to do what is right by getting my kids to bed on time! But then I read John Piper’s Battling Unbelief and I see my impatience for what it is: another sin.

What is impatience? Impatience is the inability to “wait and endure” without murmuring and disillusionment (73). Impatience is the inability to “wait in the unplanned place, and endure the unplanned pace” (73). Impatience is the inability to see that “God is up to something good for us in all our delays and detours” (75). This latter definition is the key because is shows that impatience is a lack of faith in God’s sovereign plan.

But notice what the Bible says: “The Lord is good to those who wait for him” (Lamentations 3:25); “Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord…” (James 5:7); “The fruit of the Spirit is…patience” (Galatians 5:22). According to the Bible, God commands patience and patience is evidence of the Holy Spirit in one’s life.

According to Piper, the key to patience is faith in the fact that “God meant it for good” (77). Remember the story of Joseph? He was thrown in a well, sold as a slave, seduced by Potiphar’s wife, thrown in jail, and forgotten about. Piper believes that there are about 17 years between the initial event of being thrown in the well and the final event of being raised up in Pharoah’s court and saving his family from famine. But why did all this happen? “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today” (Genesis 50:20). God had a plan and Joseph patiently waited for God’s plan to be carried out.

So, couldn’t God have a plan for that traffic jam? Couldn’t God have a plan for that plane delay? Couldn’t God have a plan for screaming kids who won’t go to bed according to my schedule? God is good. God is faithful. God has a plan that is meant for good and meant to bring Him glory. If we truly believed in this plan, wouldn’t we be more patient?