Be Patient, Just Be Patient

Be Patient, Just Be Patient

October 29, 2026

The View From Above — Thoughts to Help With Everyday Life

Pastor Paul Stephens

“Be patient, just be patient.”

That was my advice, and I think it was sound, to someone struggling with a very frustrating circumstance.

Prayer can be answered swiftly, even in an instant, but not always. Sometimes prayer is answered in layers over time.

Getting out of debt, repairing a marriage that has struggled for years, ridding ourselves of inherited curses that have plagued us over a lifetime. Layers over time.

As we pray, things begin to improve, sometimes frustratingly slowly. We have to accept that. We can be incredibly impatient, and if we’re not careful, our impatience can jettison what God is doing to help us get out from underneath a struggling or debilitating circumstance.

Consider Job. His lot was radically changed in one afternoon—the experience of losing nearly everything: children, wealth, servants, and his own physical health.

Change came. He recovered all, but it took 42 chapters. A fairly long narrative. Children were restored; that took time. His herds and flocks were replenished; that took time, and so forth.

Joseph, in the book of Genesis, prayed, “God, get me out of this place!”

He had been falsely accused and spent years in prison. It didn’t happen overnight. In fact, it took years, but God always had a plan and a purpose behind it all.

That’s what we need to remember.

Maybe you’re in a situation that has been lingering a very long time, and you’re praying, taking action to try to improve your lot, and waiting—waiting patiently for things to be restored to the place they should be.

Patience is something we need to be praying for. For most, it’s not a natural attribute.

Patience makes room for God to work in our lives over time to advance and accomplish His purposes.

An important word or phrase we find in the Word of God is wait, as in waiting on the Lord.

In the Bible, waiting on the Lord is not passive inactivity or sitting idle. It is an active posture of trust, expectancy, and dependence on God’s timing, strength, and help.

It involves letting go of self-reliance, giving up frantic or sinful efforts to force an outcome, and aligning your plans with God’s will.

Waiting on God means staying busy with obedience, helping others, and attending to daily responsibilities while trusting God with the bigger picture.

We do what we know to do and leave the rest to God.

That’s a good strategy for life, and for that to be realized, we need patience.

All of us are waiting on answered prayer. We need patience while making room for God to work in us as He pleases and according to His timing.

Job was restored, slowly over time, but it happened:

Job 42:12a

“Now the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning…”

And with Joseph, it was years getting him into place so he could help his family in the midst of famine.

Genesis 50:20

“But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.”

These men exemplify what waiting on the Lord and being patient looks like.

It’s a parallel track. We trust, we have confidence on one track, and on the other are the circumstances of our lives, whatever state they may be in.

Psalm 27:14

“Wait on the LORD; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD!”

Twice stated because it’s really an ongoing need, and we must not allow ourselves to lose hope and become discouraged while we are waiting.

Psalm 62:5–6

“My soul, wait silently for God alone, For my expectation is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be moved.”

That’s right!

“I SHALL NOT BE MOVED…”

Not one inch away from trusting, loving, and serving God while I wait.

So, let’s pray today for patience. It’s necessary because waiting—waiting on God—is a very important virtue that will maintain the integrity of what God is doing and wants to do in your life.