Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer (NIV). Romans 12:12
People are always in a hurry these days. Our consumeristic culture makes this particularly challenging. Our economy is driven by inventions that lessen or eliminate idle waiting. Over time we have become more and more accustomed to getting what we want now. We expect instant gratification based on our experiences with Amazon Prime, Google, Lazada, Shopee. Foods are popped into microwave ovens wanting to cook faster and be ready in minutes or, in some cases, seconds. Many of us rush from place to place on highways where speed limits have been raised. When traffic doesn’t move quickly, we are annoyed.
With the Covid 19 pandemic, we lament because of the situation that is not getting better on our timeline. We don’t know how many more weeks, months, or years we are heading into government mandated self-isolations and social distancing with no clear end in sight. These predictions are changing almost daily. Life with no school, no playdates, no eating at restaurants, no shopping for non-essentials, no sporting events, and even no face-to-face worship services has become the new normal. Certainly, life now is with a great deal of adversities, frustrations and sufferings.
So many issues about this pandemic have exhausted and frustrated and worn out our patience. When can we feel free to socialize, worship, and enjoy life? When will life be normal again? When can everybody get a vaccine? The fact is no one really knows when life will return to pre-virus normal, nor if it ever will completely. How long have we been doing this? When will unemployment lines shorten, face-to-face classes resume, and increased pressure on hospitals and healthcare subside? All we can really do besides following the “stay home, stay safe” order is to be patient.
Patience is a virtue. Its theological definition involves allowing oneself to fully experience the discomfort that comes with not knowing how long or in what ways this virus will plague us or how it will change our society and our world. This patience also allows complaint, or lament. God is just fine with us asking how long will this last because this is awful. He listens to us express sorrow over unemployment, illness, and death. He hears our concerns – and even anger.
As with all virtues, it must be practiced often before it takes root and becomes our default response. It is one of those attributes that we cannot learn by reading about it. It’s a quality that can only be acquired by persistent and enduring practice.
In the book of Romans, Paul instructs us to “be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, [and] be faithful in prayer” (Rom. 12:12). God wants us to continue to share our worries, sorrow, and anger with Him, knowing that pain and injustice will be vanquished, even if we cannot see the shape that victory will take. This is God’s world, and God has His timing, and life always includes faith and patience and waiting. God is always at work. It is not always how we might want it – but God will never let us go.
It is because the things that are going on, the grind that we feel, the burdens and grief and trauma and confusion that are ours – are NOT all there is! We are part of God’s magnanimous world – and God is at work – and God will not let us go. Therefore, we can – and we must – be patient in suffering and persevering in prayer.
Life so often does not unfold on our own timetables, according to our own plans. Life unfolds. So, living by faith always includes waiting and patience. We trust – not just in our own abilities and actions, but in God’s abiding care and God’s goodness always at work in and through us, around us, often in spite of us. God is with us always and forever. God prevails.
Joy, patience and faithfulness are all fruit of the Spirit. We can operate in all of these things because they are characteristics of God and have been deposited into our born spirits. We can let them flow through us simply by living by His Spirit and renewing our minds to the truth of His Word.