Patience: Joseph's Thirteen-Year Journey

Mark 4:26-29 “And He said, "The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, (27) and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how.  (28)  For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head.  (29) But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

In the passage of scripture quoted above our Lord Jesus taught us that the kingdom of God operates in the same manner as farming operates in the natural. The farmer in the natural sows his seed and then lets that seed grow. He does not know how the seed grows for it is God who gives the increase, nevertheless he waits patiently for his harvest to ripen and when it does he reaps his harvest. In the spirit it is no different. It may be that in your stage of spiritual growth the seed is still growing beneath the soil and you can’t see any results yet. Some of you are starting to see the blade coming up, i.e. you are starting to notice some changes taking place in your life. Whichever stage of growth you are at, know that there will come a time when your grain will ripen and you will be able to harvest your crop. This takes not only faith however but also patience working with your faith.

James 1:2-4 “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, (3) knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.  (4) But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”

Without patience the believer will never become perfect and complete. This truth is revealed to us by the Holy Spirit in the above quoted passage of scripture. And so we see that patience is a key component to the development of the character of the believer. The Holy Spirit teaches us it is our faith that is being tested when we go through the various trials of life. So just how does faith respond to trials? This passage teaches us that it does so by allowing patience to be produced in the life of the believer. I want you to notice that the Holy Spirit encourages the believer to let patience have its perfect work so that the desired results can be made manifest. The Holy Spirit makes that comment because He knows that when some saints do not see immediate results then they are tempted to give up on their faith rather than allowing patience to be produced in them.

Genesis 50:20 “But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.”

The Old Testament was written for us as examples, and Joseph was an example of one who responded to severe trials in his life by patiently maintaining his faith in God. As a young man, Joseph had been shown by God that he would be used by Him in such a way that even his family would bow down to him. Everyone in Joseph’s family clearly understood the implications of his dreams, for scripture reveals to us that his brothers hated him for it. As an aside, not always will God’s promises to you go down well with others. In Joseph’s case his brothers even tried to kill him because of it and they eventually sold him as a slave in order to get rid of him. In this world Satan is our adversary and he will do everything in his power to prevent God’s promises from coming to pass in our lives. Nevertheless as we patiently maintain our faith in God and His promises, we will ultimately see those promises come to pass in our lives. In the passage of scripture quoted above when Joseph made himself known to his brothers, he made the statement that it was in fact God who had been working in his life all the time. Since he was a young man of seventeen he had been sold as a slave. He had faithfully served his master as a slave. He had then been falsely accused and thrown into prison where he remained until the day that the Lord had prepared for him. And in one day he was promoted from being a convicted criminal to becoming president of the most powerful nation in the world. All of this took place over a thirteen-year period, for Joseph was thirty years old when he finally came out of prison. And in all that time Joseph never once complained against God for that which he went through (even though he deserved none of it). He patiently maintained his faith in God through all that time and recognized that God was working all things together for his good. That is why the Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul teaches us that all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). And so when we go through the trials of life our faith needs to work alongside patience to see us through those trials.

Michael E.B. Maher

Faith Toward God

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