There’s not a need to have patience unless there’s some kind of suffering in waiting.  That waiting can be for something bad to change or for something good to finally happen.   It’s what makes patience so very difficult, at least for most of us Westerners.Even God suffers and has to wait patiently.

“God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built.”  1 Pet 3:20

You have to wonder if God was thinking, ‘Hurry up, Noah, please. I can’t stand the level of evil that is on the face of the earth.  This suffering humans are inflicting on one another causes me unspeakable distress and I must wait until you build this boat.’

Patience is a barely existent virtue in my character.  I don’t like suffering and I want it to end quickly.  I want somebody to do something.  More often than not when I have to wait too long, I try to take control and do things myself.

But this isn’t the way of the Lord.  His ways are patience.  Endurance.  And long-suffering.  Because timing matters as He assembles everything and all people in place.  It’s not always just about me.