Patience and Long-suffering [James 5: 7,8]

Instant noodles. Instant messaging. Fast food. Express lanes.
The world is in such a big hurry, don't you think?

And for what, exactly? More than we care to admit, I think people are generally worried that they wouldn't have enough time to do the things they want to do, be who they've always hoped to be, and get the best the world has to offer.
That's why whenever we can, we try to speed things up as much as we can to suit our needs. Ironically, there are also those things that we try to delay. In reality, it all boils down to the fact that we don't want to die any time soon, but since no one knows exactly when it's gonna happen, we don't want to take chances or our sweet time going about our life, so better make the most out of it while we're still here! Constantly in a frantic pace, with everybody subconsiously in "panic" mode, the world thrives in instant gratification.

I gave a lecture on learning in a General Psychology class. Somewhere within that lesson,
the term "delayed gratification" came up, and I made a few comments on the subject.
At the end of the course, I prepared a test on the topic, and this item was included:

______________________________ teaches us to control our impulses in order to achieve
more valued rewards.

For some reason, not one student was able to answer that question correctly. (DELAYED GRATIFICATION. That's two big words you can't miss, srsly.) Most of them even left it blank. Actually, I was thinking that maybe it was my fault, because I probably didn't explain the concept well enough for them to understand it and didn't stress it too much for them to realize that it was something that was important enough to make its way into the final exam. (I knew, though, that most of them didn't really get to study the material that much.) Still, I was appalled, and I didn't even bother hiding my disappointment, both with the class and with myself.

As I thought about it, I came to realize that perhaps my generation has started to care less and less about the things that really mattered in life, and more and more about satisfying their own (selfish) desires.

Patience is obviously underrated. If somebody needed something, he'd had to get it fast and get it NOW. The world says, "It's not cool to wait. Let's take matters into our own hands and make things happen!" Sure, there are instances when we have to make the move and move fast. Like in an emergency. But Christians, especially the young ones, don't know anymore what it means and how important it is to wait on the Lord. We don't know how to be still and take heart, and we can't because we're afraid that God won't do something at the right time, exactly when we want Him to. We don't seek His will or cast our cares on Him and can't leave Him to deal with our struggles because He seems to take too much time, and it's not like He's going to give us an extension--if you gotta go, you go, right? We don't want to be delayed.

Hence, we forget that all things work according to God's plan in God's time, and we don't have a say in anything. Whether we try to speed things up or slow things down, God will surely carry out His plan. As it is recorded in His Word, He says, "I the Lord have spoken, and I will do it." Nothing is going to stop Him from doing what He has purposed for us in His sovereignty and love.

We don't like to wait, and I guess it goes without saying that waiting is hard. Waiting is excruciating and scary. Waiting makes us anxious and keeps us on edge. Waiting gives us time to think about what-ifs and maybes. Waiting drives us crazy, and the suspense kills us. Most of the time, when we try to hurry things up, we do stupid things, like cheat, lie, and basically cause ourselves unnecessary pain. This is what James warns us about--the waiting for, as it seems, nothing--and encourages us by saying, "...be patient, and stand firm, because the Lord is coming." Yes, God will come through for you. He will come for you. He will be there, especially when you are just dying to know what He has up His sleeve, but He can't tell you yet, because you have to wait and see it for yourself. He won't leave you hanging. He may or may not give you what you want, but He certainly will prepare you to accept what He has in store for you and will make you realize that He always has the best for you in mind. Waiting on God is believing in faith that the best is yet to come, and it will come when you're ready for it.

Though waiting is a tough challenge, patience is a virtue worth having. Being able to wait on God about every big and small thing in our lives says a lot about how much we trust Him and how much faith we have in Him. Satisfying our needs by our own means is a sign that we don't believe that God is able to make a way for us. I think it's logical and reasonable that the One who knows how much time everyone has in this life and holds time itself can be trusted to make things happen for us at the exact time it needs to happen. So there's no need to rush; let's just walk in His light and take one step (even leap!) of faith at a time.

Like the hymn goes: "It will be worth it all when we see Jesus."