Patience. It is a word found in our bibles that carries the idea of pausing, enduring, delaying, to forbear. Patience is necessary as it slows us down, it allows us to focus and consider before drawing conclusions. Patience is vital to our development and growth in our walk with God who Himself is forbearing.
Our modern culture, and especially social media and instant messaging, have become the antithesis of patience. It’s almost as if most believers have developed a form of spiritual ADHD. Now I will be the first to admit that there are times I really appreciate a fast answer. But when it comes to relationships, business dealings, and studying the Word of God, a lack of patience is often destructive. It is, of course, the latter, that I want to focus on here.
When we study the bible, we read it, we look up words in a lexicon, we make connections with other verses in other chapters and books and that process allows us to better understand God and His will for us. If you reread that previous sentence, you’ll note the presence of “time” taking place. Reading, taking the time to look a word up and perhaps see how and where it is used elsewhere in the bible for better context. Taking certain words or verses and connecting them to other verses (i.e. comparing Matthew 11:2-6 to Isaiah 35:4-8) giving us multiple witnesses to receive clarity and depth is how the bible is designed to work. Patience and time are required to do this and the reward is great. Not only from the perspective that you gained understanding, but because you now OWN that answer based on the fact that you worked it out on your own. When we are given an answer without having worked for it, we merely become a parrot of someone else’s work and are truly unable to defend it. That leaves us weak and combative when we should stand strong and at peace.
When asked questions, Yeshua often answered with a question of his own. His reasoning was simple, by answering his question, you both learned something from the master AND answered your own question in the process. That takes patience on our part. But how many today are willing to put that kind of time into learning?
The answer is, all too few. Today, the growing trend among many believers is that our understanding is now coming from TikTok videos, reels, messaging, Facebook posts, memes, or from X (Twitter) where posts are 280 characters (40-70 words) or less. Not only is that the definition of impatience, the real damage is that all we are getting are answers from others that we, if those answers resonate with our personal bias, parrot back to others using those same platforms. That isn’t “studying (or being diligent) to show yourself approved a workman unto God, that needs not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Tim 4:15) The fact is, that person isn’t rightly dividing anything. And worse, they are now perpetuating and helping to expand a potentially damaging trend.
In 1 Timothy 4 we read that “in the latter days, some shall depart from the faith, giving way to seducing spirits and doctrines (teachings) of devils.” How do we avoid falling away? Well, the first and obvious answer is to pray daily, but even then in patience knowing that God isn’t a genie waiting to snap His fingers to give an answer according to our impatient whims. Second, by doing what 2 Timothy 4:15 suggests, studying to show ourselves approved. Like all words, the word for “study” has many meanings but in this case it means to be diligent which means to operate carefully with effort which has to be with patience and not reckless abandonment.
The point, we can avoid deception by being patient and diligent. When we take our time, when we confirm what we hear, when we use sources especially time period sources and demand the same from others, we can avoid seduction from the enemy who does exist and who does desire to destroy our walk.
My plea here is for us all to consider this… our walk is Holy. God is Holy. His Word is Holy. His Israel (people) are Holy. We have to have PEACE in order to touch the holy things and we are not at peace when we are flying by the seat of our TiKTok type pants. Respect and reverence and care and patience must be applied or we corrupt the holy things. And when you look at all of the division in the body of Messiah, it’s hard to argue that we haven’t corrupted the holy things of God. I implore you to slow down, prove all things with multiple witnesses and prayer. Taking your time when studying only proves you’ve placed great weight on God’s word and want to get it correct, that you are not just looking to have your ears scratched by words that come fast and feel good. If God and His word are important to us, and He is a patient God, shouldn’t we be reflecting that same character trait as well? I truly believe the quality and depth of our walk depends on it!
Absolutely spot on Ken!! May we all slow down and take this excellent advice.
Ken, super good article. I was just commenting that Frank also taught that very thing, taking time to study, compare words, pray and wait for understanding. Sometimes understanding took many weeks or years to come to a conclusion and sometimes, conclusions were still not found. So not “fast food” …. Thanks for presenting this. It is so needed.
Thank you. You mentioned Frank… I remember years ago he mentioned a specific thing that, when I heard it, I was almost offended. But I had developed enough of a respect for his scholarship that I decided to say nothing and just wait and see if there was something to it, give God time to work with it inside of me. It was like 10 months later when somebody said something unrelated while we sat in church, and it caused what Frank said to click and I literally went, “OHHHHH” outloud and everyone turned to me because it wasn’t in time with anything being said. LOL But it’s an example of not being in a rush, that sometimes things take time. Blessings sis
Good Word. Bible studies here every day Objective to draw closer to our Father and be holy as He is HOLY!
Spot on . Thank YOU for this very much needed article.
100% Agree. This is also why generally I do not engage in arguing with people online. You mentioned “Yeshua often answered with a question of his own.” What hits me there is that generally if you give people “your” answer, they just take that against their own biases and argue whatever their position is, which is not consistent to what they’ve just heard. Not only imagine doing that against Yeshua, but we do that every day in a variety of subjects (like politics for example). I take more the position that I’m not going to convince someone just by what I say. On the other hand, if they disagree, they can look it up. If someone is incorrect (including me) on a position on anything, they’re better off looking into it, finding the correct answer, and then being able to know why.
So Yeshua had another layer of wisdom there that we can at least feebly attempt to replicate in terms of how to interact with people so that they are open to learning and correction. When he was on the earth, he couldn’t just tell someone to “Google it,” but he could frame things in ways where people had to engage in actual critical thinking. That’s something that’s missing in the world today.
Also, I don’t have any TikTok type pants. Those on Temu? 😛