Patience in The Face of Desire

If there is one distinction between those who have found themselves miserable in this life and those who have found themselves fulfilled and delighted, it may be that the latter have learned the lessons of patient waiting.

When desire is strong; patience is weak. And when we have learned the lesson that impatience wreaks havoc, it is easy to then try to kill desire. Perhaps it is easier to erase a longing than it is to wait for that longing to be fulfilled in the fullness of time.

I love the following passages because they remind me, in the face of desire, that the journey of patience is worth it. I am reminded that desires are given for a reason and that in waiting, not only do we encounter happiness (we count them happy which endure), but we learn to refine and focus our desire to what we really, really wanted all along (the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee).

When lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. (James 1:15)

Ye lust and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that you may consume it upon your lusts. (James 4:2-3)

Be patient, therefore brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth and hath long patience for it, until he recieve the early and later rain. Behold we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord: that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy. (James 5:7,11)

Yea in the way of the judgments we have waited for thee. The desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee. (Isaiah 26:8)

Lord, all my desire is before thee; And my groaning is not hid from thee. (Psalm 38:9)