Psalm 92

We have a problem with patience in our society. Maybe it’s the increase in technology. Or maybe it’s simply the decrease in spirituality. One of the fruits of the Holy Spirit is patience, and there seems to be alarmingly little of it these days. We are a buy now, pay later society in the midst of a 24/7/365 culture. Well, I guess the corona virus has slowed us down significantly, for the time being, but when life is running at normal speed, there isn’t too much that we truly have to wait for; thus, we don’t.

Somehow, though we know time remains constant on our planet, time seems to be getting faster and faster and faster. This spills over into Christianity. Many people are left wondering why Jesus hasn’t returned yet. When is He really coming again? What is He waiting for?

Though this psalm doesn’t give us the answer to that specific question, it does point out the difference between God and fools: “Senseless people do not know, fools do not understand, that though the wicked spring up like grass and all evildoers flourish, they will be destroyed forever. But you, LORD, are forever exalted.” (vs 6-8)

It’s clear, here, that God takes the long view of things. It’s easy to do when you’ve already been living for an eternity, and you’ve got an eternity left to go! By contrast, “senseless” people take the short view of things. They look around at the world, see that corruption and wickedness and evil are flourishing, and come unglued. They have no perspective. They have no patience. They have nothing but a short view.

If people truly are fools, I think this can cause them to end up throwing in with the evildoers. They look at the prosperity of the wicked and think, Hey, why should I miss out? I better get in on this! They forget that where evil truly exists, the prosperity is short-lived. Sin destroys itself and is gone forever, while God and His ways of love are everlasting.

It’s hard to remember that, though, if you don’t take the long view into consideration.

God has an infinite amount of patience. He really must, in order to deal with all the things that happen in this world. Sometimes, I think about all the things He witnesses on a daily basis, and I imagine that the only way He can deal with it is because He has the perspective of the long view.

He wants to give us the long view as well so that we will not get swept away either in the frenzy of time or the frenzy of jealousy at the prosperity of the wicked. He wants to cultivate in us the spiritual gift of patience and an abiding assurance in the eternal. To keep our eyes on the prize—this is the goal of the long view, perhaps summed up best by martyred Christian missionary Jim Elliot when he said, ”He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

Today, take the long view.