In what way is patience a fruit of the Holy Spirit? from Compelling Truth
The Greek word for “patience” used in Galatians 5:22 is makrothumia, which means “forbearance” or “longsuffering.” The Greek word is a compound of two words meaning “long” and “temper.” Makrothumia is the equivalent of our English idiom “having a long fuse”; a patient person can take a lot of provocation before reacting. Patience is one aspect of the fruit of the Spirit. As the phrase “fruit of the Spirit” implies, we can only have patience when the Holy Spirit works through us.
Job is often put forward as the personification of patience, and rightly so. He endured the loss of his possessions, his children, his health, and his wife’s support, but he took it patiently. When Job’s wife told him to “Curse God and die,” Job responded, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” (Job 2:9-10). Job knew God had control over his situation and his suffering. He had the patience to wait for the unfolding of God’s plan, going so far as to say, “Though he slay me, I will hope in him” (Job 13:15).
Jeremiah is another great example of patience. He prophesied to the nation of Judah for forty years, and no one listened. Instead of giving up, he wept over the foolish people who refused to turn from their sin. God forbade Jeremiah to marry (Jeremiah 16:2), Jeremiah’s friends abandoned him, and his message so riled the people that they threw him into a cistern (Jeremiah 38:1-13).
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Then there’s Moses. He had the job of gathering a few million slaves, teaching them a new religion, and forming them into a great nation. At every turn, the Israelites did their best to frustrate Moses, complaining about the food, threatening to return to Egypt, and challenging Moses’ authority. It reached the point that God offered Moses a deal: He would destroy the rebellious Israelites and make Moses the father of a great nation. But Moses interceded for the unruly rebels. He replied, “O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people” (Exodus 32:11-12). Talk about patience! Moses had it. Moses had his lapses, of course (Exodus 32:19; Numbers 20:8-11), but for forty years he led an obstinate people and delivered them safely to the border of the Promised Land. And he did it all for no earthly reward.
