Patience is more than endurance. Our lives are in the hands of God like a bow and arrow in the hands of an archer. God is aiming at something we cannot see. He stretches and strains, and every now and again we say, “I can’t take it anymore.” God doesn’t waver. He goes on stretching until his purpose is in sight. Then he lets the arrow fly.
“Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him” (Job 13:15). Trust yourself in God’s hands. Maintain your relationship to Jesus Christ through the patience of faith. Faith is not a pathetic sentiment. It is vigorous confidence built on the fact that God is holy love. It is the heroic effort of your life.
A mental poise comes from being established on the eternal truth that God is holy love. Is there something you need patience for just now? Maybe you can’t see God, can’t understand what he’s doing. But you know him. God has given everything in Jesus Christ to save you. Now he wants you to give everything for his sake. He wants you to fling yourself out in reckless abandonment to him.
There are parts of us that this kind of abandoned faith hasn’t reached yet, places that remain untouched by the life of God. There were no such places in Jesus’s life, and there must be none in ours. “Now this is eternal life: that they know you” (John 17:3). The real meaning of eternal life is a life that can face anything without wavering. If we take this view, life becomes a great romance, an opportunity for seeing marvelous things all the time. God is disciplining us to bring us to this central place of power.
