Today is part two of looking at Bibles quotes about patience in Psalm 37. Yesterday, we barely made it past the first couple of words; this Psalm is deep and rich when it comes to talking about patience in the Bible. We talked about being still, literally and figuratively. Now we’ll talk about waiting patiently and what that looks like. If you’ll notice, immediately after “wait patiently” we get our first idea of what that looks like, “fret not.” Ready to continue unpacking this patience scripture? Let’s go!
Bible Quotes About Patience
This verse lists three things to do, or rather NOT do while we’re waiting patiently:
Do NOT fret
Refrain from anger
Forsake wrath
Let’s look at these. First “…fret not over him…” we don’t need to know what is said before or after, all we need to know is we are supposed to pay attention to our own selves. Sometimes, when we’re “patiently waiting” and I said that with air quotes by the way, sometimes we distract ourselves…from ourselves…by paying too much attention to others. You know it and I know it. So often, the only way we even have a semblance of looking like we’re waiting patiently is because we’ve decided to get all up in someone else’s business–to put it so very informally. That is not waiting patiently by the way, that is distracting ourselves by being nosey. See, I think if we were to sit quietly with ourselves while waiting–well who knows what would happen because we seldom do it! If we’re not busy with ourselves, we’re busy with others. “Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.” Did you pay close attention to that?
First these verses tell us not to fret over someone else…next sentence…and then why we shouldn’t fret, “it tends only to evil.”
And what about that next sentence? “Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!”
Think about an impatient person. Are they the most pleasant person to be around? Or are they known for their quick and hot temper? What about their wrath (displeasure, hatefulness, irritation, resentment). We may not use the word “wrath” too often, but I bet we use some of the synonyms to describe people. And those people we describe with those words, are they patient people? My guess is no.
So, which do we want to choose? I personally would like to “Be still before the Lord,” waiting patiently for Him, minding my own business, not giving in to anger or wrath. The final sentence of this verse is my reason why, “…but those who wait for the Lord shall possess the land.”
This post is part of a 31 Days series writing on Bible Verses About Patience. You can read more here.
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