Learning Patience

## Introduction

It is no understatement to say that we live in an almost instantaneous society. Because of technology, we can speak and be connected to Japan in a matter of moments. We can have popcorn in two minutes or less. We can have our credit checked and approved for a loan in less than five minutes. For the last two years, much of our Christmas shopping has been done via the Internet. No longer do we have to get into a car to drive to a store or series of stores. When a person wants a particular book or music CD, they order it from Amazon.com. Want an inspirational book? Order it from christianbooks.com. Want a kitchen accessory? Order it from kitchensandmore.com. Special perfume or cologne? Lots of choices. We can now shop cyberspace malls from the comfort of our living rooms wearing our pajamas, listening to our music, and all at the speed of typing fingers.

Such speed makes it difficult to appreciate a slower pace. In fact, we may find that it is difficult to be patient. Consider babies: if babies can be overstimulated and thus unwilling to go back to a less flashy toy, then you can imagine how difficult it is for adults. Remember "Pong," one of the first computerized video games. Using a fairly large box, one would hook it up to the TV and play a game of ping pong on the screen. The Commodore 64 was the height of sophistication. But who wants to go back to the Commodore 64? Many don't even have a clue about such a machine.

Here's the point: the faster we get, the less patient we are. The more access to information, the less accepting we are of waiting. An almost instantaneous world and the expectations that go with it invade our spiritual world as well. We expect God to fix things quickly. We have little patience to wait for God to act. We live in a different world and we are not apt to return to days of a slower pace and lower expectations. Nor should we lament days that are gone by. But the challenge for us as God's children is to learn to live in this world without losing sight of God and his work and his timing. Quite a challenge—in an instantaneous world, God's children know something about patience.

The event in Jacob's life will aid us in seeing this challenge brought to reality. There are a number of aspects about this story that we could study, but we are going to concentrate on Jacob's demonstration of patience and try to learn from his experience the value of waiting for God to act.

## The Story

After God's promises are revealed to Jacob in a dream, Jacob travels on to his destination—to his uncle's house in Paddam Aram. There he meets Laban's daughter Rachel. Jacob quickly finds Rachel attractive and wants to marry her. With no money to pay a bride's price, Jacob agrees to work seven years for Rachel's hand in marriage. Laban leaves out a small detail: younger daughters cannot marry before older daughters. Thus, on the wedding night, Rachel's sister Leah is substituted.

Jacob's outrage is met with another proposition: finish out the marriage week, and you can then have Rachel as your wife for an additional seven years of work. Thus, Jacob becomes married to two women within a week but must work fourteen years in exchange for his wives.

## Purpose

It appears that there is a twofold purpose for including this episode in the Jacob saga. First, the story helps to explain how Jacob got married. Eventually, Jacob will have children not only with Leah and Rachel but with their maidservants. This great nation will come into existence through the twelve sons of Jacob, and this story helps us to know how this nation began. Second, this story seems to continue with the idea of deception which has surrounded Jacob's life from the beginning. As he was named "deceiver," now he is being deceived. But the emphasis does not seem to be on the turn of events, but that deception continues to be a part of Jacob's life. We are going to see the impact God can make on a human being, and this episode allows us to see that Jacob's life needs to change and with God's help it will.

But there is another aspect to the story that seems to build upon the promises of God. At the end of chapter 28, Jacob makes a vow to God in response to God's promises. The promise has to do with giving and making God's name known in the land. Some see Jacob's vow as manipulative and it well may be—a quid pro quo vow, you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. But nonetheless, it is God's promises and Jacob's response that seems to be directing his path. There seems to be a newfound faith in Jacob. It is a faith that is willing to wait.

Even when he is deceived, he does not demand justice. He agrees to Laban's proposition. While the text does not tell us why he was willing to work another seven years, it does tell us that the first seven years seemed like a few days because of his intense love for Rachel. What we do begin to see is the patience of Jacob—a patience built upon faith, a willingness to wait as the years go by so that he can get what he wants.

There is nothing in the text to suggest that Jacob is thinking about God's promise as he works for Rachel. But the text does suggest recognition of God in the next set of episodes as the children are born. Each one finds their purpose in God's power and timing. Jacob knew something about God, his promises, and his timing. Thus, Jacob appears to wait for God to act.

Patience is difficult. How difficult it is to learn to wait. How difficult it is to leave things with God and allow him to work in his own time. How difficult it is not to feel the pressure of having success and change immediately. How difficult it is to learn that patience is the work of God's Spirit in our lives and that to be impatient is counter to the will of God. How we applaud those who do things quickly and how we criticize those who in trying to be patient seem to have no initiative and aggressiveness. How we have allowed our culture to invade our lives so that patience is seen as a weakness rather than as one of God's many graces.

Jacob was patient, but he was active. He worked. Each passing day brought him closer to the goal of being with Rachel. And during those initial seven years, God is silent. But the God of promise did not forget Jacob or his promises during those seven years.

Patience is easier when we turn our attention to God rather than to what we want. It is easier when we give ourselves over to the leading of the Spirit rather than our own ideas.

We live in an instantaneous world, but we do not allow the world to dictate how we react to situations or to set the agenda for our lives. Quite a challenge. How are you doing with the challenge of being patient?

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