Is It Dangerous to Pray for More Patience?

If you have been around Christians for very long you may have heard the joke, “don’t pray for patience because then God will give you an opportunity to be patient in.” Raising three teenage boys and working every day in a people based environment I often prayed for strength to get through the day.

Why strength?

• I am a mother of three boys.

• I work in human resources.

• I am married to a man who loves sports and coaches during his spare time.

Calgon® take me away!

But is strength really what I should be praying for? Patience is defined as having endurance, constancy, steadfastness, perseverance and being slow to anger. As Christians we must learn to deal patiently with difficult people. It takes a supernatural strength to respond to difficult situations with grace and mercy.

Noah must have been the most persevering person around to have survived living in the Ark with smelly animals for 150 days (Genesis 8:3). Job’s entire world collapsed. He lost his family, belongings and health. Yet through it all he remained steadfast, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” (Job 13:15) Abram remained consistent in following God, believing God’s promise that he would have descendants as numerous as the stars, despite not having a child of his own. Mary, Jesus’ Mother, had endurance while trying to find a place to give birth.

And Jesus died a slow, painful death for us. And now He is patiently waiting for each one of us to turn our hearts towards Him.

“Better to be patient, than powerful; better to have self-control than to conquer a city.” Proverbs 16:32 NIV

I desire the perseverance of Noah, the steadfastness of Job, the constancy of Abraham, and the endurance of Mary. I know as I tackle the daily ringing phones with impatient people on the other end and teenagers who like to test their limits, it is only through Jesus’ strength through me that I can live out a life of patience.

I think the joke is wrong, having patience helps you put up with things, bears the burden of troubles, and does not get irritated at the small stuff when things don’t go as planned.

I think this week I will begin to pray more for patience and less for strength, because after all “better to be patient, than powerful.”