I'm not as impatient as I used to be. In fact, on a scale of 1 to 10, (10 being most patient) I place myself at about a 5.37444, give or take a hundredth. Now, don't get me wrong...I haven't arrived...I know! How 'bout you? Would you consider yourself a person of patience?
Okay, let me ask you....how do you feel when you arrive at your 10:00 doctor appointment five minutes early, yet still don't actually see the doc until 11:00? Hmmm... What about when you are standing in the shortest line at Wal-Mart and the cashier commits an error that ends up making your short line stagnate into being the slowest? (double hmmmmm....) How 'bout those moments when you're stuck in traffic and some Joe buzzes by in the next lane over, only to cut into your line about five cars ahead of you? (Thought so?)
The worst trial of patience is when you feel like your circumstances have trapped you in one of life's prisons and, no matter how hard you pray, you just can't seem to get out. You want release so badly that you're willing to stage whatever prison break you can think of just to get out our the misery of being stuck. Honestly, those are the most difficult moments for me to cope with. Yet behind it all, I am 100% convinced that "the steps of a righteous person are ordered of the Lord."
Joseph was in that lurch too. Injustice had befallen him; Thrown into a pit by his jealous and angry brothers, sold into slavery, falsely accused of sexual sin, thrown into another prison....all lasting for about 18 years....wow! I consider that one hugmungaloid trial! But Joseph never gave up his dream, never let down in such a way as to turn away from the Lord. No, the key to his prison break was found in how he handled his situation. Here are some thoughts from Joseph's situation that I hope will help you if you're stuck in one of life's jail cells.
First, Joseph never ceased to exalt the Lord. No matter what his situation, he remained true to his King. No blame, no throwing up of the hands in frustration, no backsliding with an excuse. He exercised his will to do the opposite. He elevated the Lord to the highest prioritized position in everything he did and said...and God honored him by making everything he did a success!
Second, Joseph looked for meaning in the mundane. In other words, when life in prison became mundane, he did everything in his power to find someone to serve. He sought to make other's "prison existence" tolerable. He took no thought of himself. Instead, he made it his mission to encourage and elevate others. I imagine those projects made his sentence pass by more quickly than if he had sat around moping every day.
Third, he kept his eyes and ears open for Divine Appointments. You can read about all this in Genesis 39 and 40. Every step of the way, Joseph watched for moments in which he might be used of the Lord in a miraculous or life-changing way. Now, it wasn't for himself. It was for others, and that is absolutely essential. If you are always seeking to exercise your faith on yourself, you are missing out on the true nature of what Christ wants to build in you.
Galatians 6:9 says "do not become weary in doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up." Notice the emphasis isn't on finding a way to reap. It is in finding a way to do good....for someone else is absolutely implied. You can't set around trying to figure out a way to do enough good in order to earn enough chits to merit a break-out. The idea is to forget about your prison break and look for ways to start an "inside-the-bars-prison-ministry!" Can you do it?
The only way to break through the impatience is to stop looking at your situation and find someone else to elevate. They can be worse off than you...or not...it doesn't matter. Just find someone to serve, then watch for that moment when God steps into THEIR lives with something miraculous from YOU! I think you'll find your prison sentence doesn't really matter. You will already feel like you've broken through the bars!
Pastor Jim
