I was making a phone call to a utility company this morning and naturally got put on hold. “All of our representatives are currently helping other customers. We are experiencing an usually high call volume. Your estimated wait time is 10 minutes.” Over and over the automated message played in my ear.
I sat patiently for a while. I doodled. I kept looking at the clock to see how long I had been waiting. I didn’t want to hang up and have to start my wait time over later but I didn’t want to waste time either. I needed to persevere. Then I thought about being on hold and how hard that can be sometimes.
Sometimes God puts us on hold so to speak. Thankfully, He doesn’t force us to listen to bad music or prerecorded messages that play over and over and give us that feeling of false hope. Ten minutes! Yeah right. It was 10 minutes, 20 minutes ago. He doesn’t do those things but He does make us wait. We start out trying to be patient. We doodle. We debate if we have time to go to the bathroom or refill our coffee cups. We lose focus. Then we start to question what we’re even doing at all.
I can’t begin to tell you how many times God has made me wait. It feels like being a perpetual child at Christmas. I know what I want. I’m sure it’s under that tree. Just let me at it so I can start playing with it already. Grrr, I want it so much. Do you ever feel that way? Like you have your plan mapped out, and you’ve asked God over and over. He says we just have to ask Him and believe. So what’s taking Him so long? Why has He put us on hold?
God’s timing is hard, if not impossible, for us to understand. Certainly during the hold times. I can’t possibly explain God’s timing, so I won’t attempt to. However, as I was thinking about this while being on hold, He pushed my thoughts toward the difference between patience and perseverance. It turns out that they’re not quite the same thing.
Patient, which originated in the 13th century, is the capacity or habit of being patient. This is sitting still. This is waiting without getting upset and frustrated. This is rather impressive, actually. Galatians 5:22-23 says it’s one of the fruits of the spirit. Your translations might word it as longsuffering or forbearance.
Perseverance, on the other hand, originated a full century later, according to Merriam-Webster. It means a continued effort to do something during times of suffering. Perseverance is an active process. This is the difference between waiting for someone else to fix your meal and fixing it yourself. One is patience. One is perseverance. Either way we have to wait.
I believe there is a time for both. There are times when I’m certain God wants us to “Be still, and know that I am God,” Psalm 46:10. I struggle sometimes to understand when He wants me to do something. It’s a how long do I stand here before I’m supposed to jump type of thing.
My answer is this: if we’re truly interested in doing what God wants, then He’ll make sure we know. He won’t pass us by. He won’t forget about us. He doesn’t need help finding us. If you’re not certain that He’s telling you to jump (or whatever your issue is) then don’t. He’ll make you certain when the time is right. He’ll push you if need be. Romans 8:28 promises us that “All things work together for good, to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” If we are earnestly seeking to do His will, this is a done deal. He’s got it under control. Patience.
Sometimes, though, perseverance is called for. Romans 5:3-5 tells us that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance produces character and character produces hope. Hope remains. James 1 tells us that we need perseverance to be mature and complete. There’s no avoiding it, we’re each going to go through some hard stuff. This often requires active work to get through it. If we plant a garden, we have to water it, pull the weeds, stake plants and keep the critters away among other things. We don’t just plant and wait. We plant and work while we wait. We might break a sweat or twist an ankle. But that garden won’t produce if we don’t work for it.
If God has put us, or a certain issue we’re dealing with on hold, there’s a reason. Is it a time for patience or perseverance? Perhaps it’s having patience in one area of life so that we can fully focus on the perseverance needed in another. Ask Him. He will guide you. He will not forget you. And, I can promise you that your call IS important to Him. Just don’t expect Him to give you an estimated wait time.
