Proverbs 16:32…“Better a patient person than a warrior, one with self-control than one who takes a city.”
“Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?”I fondly ask. But patience, to preventThat murmur, soon replies, “God doth not needEither man’s work or his own gifts; who bestBear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His stateIs Kingly. Thousands at his bidding speedAnd post o’er Land and Ocean without rest:They also serve who only stand and wait.”
I hate when it’s quiet. In college and in my early days of graduate school I would fall asleep with the TV on a sleep timer. During the day, I would keep the quiet at bay with a variety of audiobooks, podcasts, music, and noise machines—anything to keep the static of the inside of my ahead from getting too loud, you know, the cliched deafening effect of silence.
My proclivity for noise is a product of my desire for effectiveness run amok. Or maybe that’s the lie I tell myself to excuse the really difficult truth at the heart of my unrest: my unwillingness to rest in God.
One way to avoid silence is to act. I want to be a warrior.. I want the external world to bear my mark. Yes, of course I can say with my mouth that this is through Christ’s power, that I am more than a conqueror in Christ, but I’m very eager for my work to have a real effect in the world. All that external action can be a way to hide from the silence that would reveal my desire to rely on my own strength or my inability to wait for God to move.
Today’s verse reminds me of John Milton’s sonnet where the speaker wonders why he’s lost his eyesight and if God will demand the same kind of labor from him given his physical disability. It is a personified Patience who responds to the question: “They also serve who only stand and wait.”
This kind of patience is best experienced in a community where you feel supported and encouraged. It’s the kind of community we find with fellow believers where we await and pray for the arrival of Christ’s kingdom. It’s also the kind of community I think we can have in our classes where we encourage each other to resist the urge to take the city and rely on the self-control and patience which are true fruits of the spirit.