Trials Produce Patience

It is important for us as believers to develop patience in terms of our relationship with others. May we at all times display that quality which is so characteristic of God toward us.

God is patient, it says, and does not want anyone to perish, but gives time before the coming of His Son so that the greatest possible number of people may be saved; and He is patient with us: as a father has compassion on his children, so Jehovah also has compassion on us.

But I also believe that patience is important with respect to the trials of life. When difficulties come—which are often designed and permitted by God to form and forge in us an attitude of patience—may we then endure those trials and see them as an opportunity to develop that quality of patience.

So it is interesting that trials can produce patience if we understand their purpose, but patience also enables us to endure trials when they come into the Christian life. In other words, patience is also required for the tribulations and trials of life, because many times, when tribulations and trials come into the Christian life, what we do is become impatient with God; we stop waiting for the solutions that are to come; we begin to complain against God; we begin to doubt His intervention and His involvement in our lives; and we become discouraged, abandon fellowship with our brothers and sisters, abandon the good resolutions we have made before God, and turn away from the faith. We then lose the opportunity to take advantage of those moments for our growth, our Christian progress.

So we also have to ask the Lord for patience and cultivate patience ourselves, so that when the trials of life come, we may arm ourselves with strength to endure that trial and remain in it, praying to the Lord until the trial passes and the time of refreshing comes, the time of celebration, the time to reap the fruit of that trial through which we have passed.

It is so important, brothers and sisters, that we be long-distance runners and, as it says, run the race of faith with patience, that race of faith with swiftness. In Ephesians chapter 6, the apostle Paul also speaks of our arming ourselves with the full armor, putting on the full armor of God, so that when the day of trial comes—what he calls the evil day—we may stand and remain firm.

He says, “When everything is over, when we have endured the time of trial, when everything has passed, may we be standing firm.” Many times, when trials come, the only thing we can do is remain firm and believe that God is faithful. We must not turn our backs on the enemy and flee immediately, but remain in prayer, wait until the Lord has fulfilled His purpose, and believe that God has a purpose in every situation through which we may pass—and that if we are faithful in the midst of the trial, in the midst of tribulation, and keep moving forward like a marathon runner running a long-distance race, the Lord will be faithful to bless and reward us for our patience.

That is why one of my favorite Psalms is Psalm 40, where the writer, the psalmist David, says: “I waited patiently for Jehovah, and He inclined toward me and heard my cry, and He brought me up out of the pit of despair, out of the miry clay; He set my feet upon a rock and made my steps firm.” He says: “Then He put a new song in my mouth, praise to our God. Many will see this and fear and trust in Jehovah.”

When we find ourselves in the crucible of trial, in the pit of despair, if we cling to the Lord and patiently wait for Jehovah's salvation, it will undoubtedly come in the Lord's time. The trial will never last longer than we can endure; God will never test us beyond our capacity. We are the ones who often doubt our capacity, but if we believe that God knows how much we can endure and remain firm in our profession of faith, He will bring us out of the trial and set our feet upon a rock.

So I encourage you to believe this and to trust firmly in the Lord, and that patience will become a powerful quality in our lives. God bless you, and until our next meditation.