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Once again, we have lived through a year and a New Year begins. We can testify: Up till now the Lord has helped us! He has helped us thus far and will continue to help us.

At the beginning of a New Year it is customary to bring our wishes before the Lord. Temporal wishes are permitted: Good health, prosperity, secure employment and to live in peace etc. Wiser it would be if we started our list like this…  One thing have I desired of the Lord that I will seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in His temple. Psalm 27:4. Continue steadfast in the Apostles. Doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayer. Think of the words of Jesus, “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul.”

We want to remain faithful unto the end and experience our completion on the day when Christ comes again. Waiting for the fulfilment of this promise requires patience, therefore, at the beginning of this New Year we should take to heart the words of the Apostle: “Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord.” James 5:7. Patience is something we are not born with. One cannot learn it in a school or university. “For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.” Hebrews 10:36.

People are impatient from the time they are born. How impatient is an infant for its mother? The time of childhood and adolescence is filled with impatience. Even into adulthood we are persecuted by impatience. Waiting for a bus, in the Doctor’s waiting room, in a traffic jam, when waiting for good news, during sickness etc.

Not only in worldly affairs but also in spiritual matters is our patience tested. Let us take a few examples from the disciples of Jesus: “Lord, wilt Thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them.” Luke 9:54 “Shall we go and pull out the weeds (tares)?”  Matthew 13:28. “Master, we saw one casting out devils in Thy name and we forbade him.” Luke 9:49 …Peter wanted to defend the Lord with his sword, Matthew 26:51. Do we not recognise our own impatience in these acts? We have need of patience!

The Apostle gave the example of the farmer who patiently waited for his harvest. This does not mean that he only had to put his hands in his pocket and be lazy. It is well known that a farmer must first prepare his fields. He must plough, harrow, sow the seed, and only then can he wait in trust and patience on the Lord for his harvest. This must also be the manner of our conduct; keep the commandments, hear the word of the Lord and act accordingly, then we do not need to fear the future, but we may await in patience the Day of the Lord.