It seems that patience is one of God’s greatest gifts to man. But we often put it on the back burner.

For example, we often talked about Job’s faith but seldom mentioned his patience, which was instrumental in his struggle. If Job had not had long wick patience, he would not have endured without complaining. 

So what is patience? According to dictionary.com: Patience is the quality of being patient, as the bearing of provocation, annoyance, misfortune, or pain, without complaint, loss of temper, irritation, or the like.

Therefore, Job not only believed in God’s promises, but he trusted in his faithfulness and relied on God’s character and loyalty to act. But he also had patience and a whole lot of it.

I think Job needed three things to work in tandem, like a three-legged stool during his struggle-faith, patience, and endurance. Faith alone would not work. Because the people who encouraged him to curse God and die had faith. But they could not stand to see him suffer for so long. So their patience had a short wick like many of us.

The Bible says, “And the Lord turned the captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends: also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before,” (Job 42:10).