The Purpose of Patience

So I have been studying this portion of scripture in Habakkuk, and I have only gained more appreciation for patience. It says:

Habakkuk 2:3 For the vision [is] yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come, It will not tarry.

The verse prior tells us to write the vision on tablets, so that he that reads it may run (with it), or join you in its pursuit. And verse three here adds an extra description of that vision.

Personally, I have so many visions from God. These are not basic dream-like visions, but goals for life as well. Perhaps you’ve written that one day you will be the biggest supplier of your product or service in the world. But the present doesn’t look anything close to that end. I deem that’s why the next verse says “…the just shall live by faith,” bearing the end in mind.

Allow me to point out the factors God wants us to notice. One: is that the vision is set for an appointed time. The word ‘appointed’ means ‘fixed’ thus, fixed time. I’m led to believe that the vision God gave you: the dream of music, that of marriage, to have child, it’s for a FIXED time, a time I believe God knows, a time He can tell you. Understanding this cuts the impatience. He told me the age at which I’d get married, and that’s why anyone who proposes the idea before that “fixed age” falls far off the grand picture.

Why does this understanding cut impatience and anxiety and fear. Well, firstly, because God is not a man that He should lie. Secondly, the theme scripture mentions the vision speaking in the end. That it’ll not lie. In the end it spoke — the vision that Sarah would have child — it didn’t lie.

Habakkuk continues to say, that though it might tarry, WAIT for IT. Because it’ll SURELY come. But then he says again that it will NOT tarry. Isn’t that contrary? The use of tarry twice? No!

Among others, ‘to tarry’ means two things: ‘to delay’ and ‘to be late’. If those meanings are inserted in this sentence, it’ll say, “though the vision may DELAY, it’ll surely come. It will NOT BE LATE.”

So what goes wrong for most of us? Our perishing comes from the lack of knowledge. The knowledge that to us the vision may SEEM like it’s delaying, but to God, to the universe and to the way your story was written, it is NOT.

I have always mentioned that because a child wants to drive a car doesn’t mean they are eligible to do it. They need to be 18 (here in Uganda), having passed their driving school. You might deserve marriage, but perhaps it’s still in the near future, like the driver, you need to excel first in the “marriage school” so that you are prepared adequately to avoid any mishaps. This is of course for those submitted to God, because they are the only ones I can speak for.

In all this, I see the purpose of patience as a fruit of the Holy Spirit. If one isn’t born again and filled with the Holy Spirit, the little patience that’s manufactured by their flesh will not be able to stand them long in the waiting. This is simply because the patience required for the manifestation of purpose, kairos, or a God-given dream, needs to be ETERNAL — whose fuel will stand the test of time, and every mockery that arises along the way.

This patience will speak to you to let you know that the vision might delay. It’d be on page 200 of the book that God wrote of your life, and yet you are still on page 100. This long suffering, as other versions call it, will keep you company as you wait the vision to manifest. It’ll not DELAY! It’s all in fact for your good.

How you ask?

Well, look at Joseph. He interpreted Pharaoh’s dream. The seven years of both abundance and famine were for an appointed time as we’ve just learnt. But, the first seven were to prepare them for the next seven. And I’m sure some people heard of the vision by the king, but brushed it off thinking the abundance would last forever.

If that’s a wrong example, I’d give David’s. He was anointed by Samuel to be king at about 17, but he never got to sit on the throne until 30! Those were 13 whole years of waiting. Did the vision lie that He’d be king—NO! Was it for an appointed time — YES! I’m quite sure David would have messed up more than he did … if he had ascended the throne at 17. It’s those 13 years that he learnt about royalty as he closely served the previous king.

Did the vision for David delay? Seemingly! I’m sure his brothers mocked him at some point, perhaps telling how it was never going to happen;

“Come on, ten years have passed — twelve in fact — but you’re still at home, nothing but only a harp player for the king! Maybe you’re anointed but to be the king’s musician.”

I know, that it’s only patience — the fruit of the Holy Spirit David bore after his being anointed — that carried him to understand, that as he played that harp … as he was mocked by family or friends, that the vision was for a SET time, that it’d speak in the end and not lie, that it would DELAY (for our chronological time) but that it’d NOT BE LATE, that everything was working together for his good!

May you embrace patience today, for whatever vision God’s given you. You’ll outwait it, and it will arrive ON TIME!

James 1:4 says, when we let this patience have its perfect work, we will be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. ‘Lacking nothing’ means if you know the appointed time of your marriage, and it’s still in the future, you’ll not feel like you’re missing out on sex. You won’t fall for the lie that you need a spouse to complete your joy or you. You’ll be WHOLE and complete.

However, if the appointed time for any vision has passed in your life, if you’re spiritual, you’ll feel that sense of lateness. For that I pray that if you’ve experienced this, God helps you to redeem that lost appointed time. And if it’s about to happen for those that haven’t, fix the quickening of its rectification through prayer and the word and faith.

This was the case for Sarah. Once God said she’d have child, she felt like the appointed time for her conceiving had passed (since she was already too old to cook anything in her oven). She had then to find faith to believe that God had removed the appointed earthly time for conceiving for her, or that He had moved the timeline of her conceiving from her past to her future — having broken the laws of nature! Only when she did this was when Isaac came.

I dare you to believe this can happen to you too!

May you be patient when that vision seems a long far off. I pray that your joy won’t wane! May it instead increase, for with each passing day means a day closer to that big day! Have a good expectation everyday, for the appointed time for that vision, will be ON TIME!

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Habakkuk 2:3 (MSG) This vision-message is a witness pointing to what’s coming. It aches for the coming–it can hardly wait! And it doesn’t lie. If it seems slow in coming, wait. It’s on its way. It will come right on time.

1 Timothy 6:11 But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, PATIENCE, gentleness.