Jerusalem of Gold
Patience
Dear brothers and sisters in Yeshua. I'd very much like to encourage you with this word. Like many of His children, I've been crying out to the LORD for His deliverance over several large issues for a long time. At first, I kept praying, please please etc. But, as He has grown my trust in Him as my Loving Father, He's changing my prayers to "Thank You for already commanding Your answer, thank You for Your promises about this in Your Word, please give me Patience to wait, and praise You as I wait on You for Your Way and Your Timing." This has been at times such a painful process. A death to self sufficiency and placing hope in hollow places. Our Father allows this because He's trying to get us to His VERY BEST for us. I would encourage you to lay down all Ishmaels and ask for Patience to hold out for His promised land. I'm not going to share the details of my own life, because that would limit the application of this word to all your lives and situations. And if you're kingdom family and you'd like to know, pray and the Holy Spirit will tell you if He would like you to know. And I'd appreciate your prayers. Many of you won't need to know because you've got enough on your plate in your own walk of being matured by the LORD in these days. He's given me several studies on Patience over the years and He's now really asking me to go back and re- read them, to strengthen me now. And as I am doing this, I thought to share with you, because I know so so many of you will be being taken through the same trust-growth by our Father. And it's not always how we think it will be. The Hebrew helps us understand why.
I believe we are in the time where so much is now out of our reach to provide, protect and solve the problems ourselves in our lives. I believe it's going to get vastly more so for the world. And our Loving Father is gently training His children to live much more dependent on Him, in ways we haven't experienced or known before. He is a Supernatural God, He will rescue us supernaturally, both in the now and for eternity, so He gets the Glory. We're supposed to feel out of our depth, at the end of our self sufficiency, so aware of our weakness, with the only way out being a miraculous deliverance from Him, like the Israelites through the Sea.
I'd like to start with a short testimony about this very word. Of how the LORD gets His encouragement to us exactly when we need, and I pray this word will do the same for you. I first published it in 2014. Ten years ago. But it's so prescient. And has a life of it's own! Because, in 2019 this small website was found by a larger American organisation. They paid me some money to use my studies, and asked me to write a shortened edit of Waiting Patiently on the LORD to use on their website. I'm not on their mailing, didn't know them and don't follow them. But I did want the Hebrew understanding to go out to as many people as possible. So I said yes and wrote the shortened vereion. Unknown to me, the American organisation re-sent out that shortened edit again to their mailing list after October 7th. Shortly after, a prayer partner in the Far East forwarded their email to our WhatsApp prayer group. After October 7th I was even more exhausted and numb And was feeling particularly useless in the LORD. So, the LORD miraculously brought this study of Patience full circle back to me, to show it was still working and blessing other believers, exactly when I myself needed His encouragement! The miracle is, the lady in the Far East had no idea she was sending the study back to the original author, across 10 years and 1000s of miles! He is a miracle working God! May He get His encouragement to you somehow too! I pray this Word encourages, blesses and strengthens you in Yeshua's Name.
Remember, this was first written 10 years ago!
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Patience. I wait for peace, I wait for the Messiah, I wait for rest from all of this. I can't keep up. Every day more news comes out of Israel. In the first week of violence against the Jewish people, 14 Jewish children were orphaned. Now I have lost count. You may not read about this in the English or American mainstream news. I think my friends in Jerusalem and throughout Israel will be OK. But I'm not sure. Then there is wider Islamic terrorism, Iran, Russia, Syria, the U.S. and China. The world is jolting downwards into chaos, madness and a devil-may-care moral ambivalence. Spiritually my close friends and I can feel it; whether they are near or far from me physically, we can all see what is going on in the world. We intercede, we pray, we talk, we worry, we intercede some more, we sit still in the Word of God, we intercede, we laugh, we cry, we wait for Messiah.
King David wrote, "Be still before Adonai; wait patiently till He comes. Don't be upset by those whose way succeeds because of their wicked plans." (Psalm 37.7) In Hebrew, that is not quite what it says. Or, at least, it does not reveal all the treasure His Holy Hebrew words hide within themselves.
As an introduction to the Hebrew understanding of Patience let's first briefly look at the words "be still" in the above verse, as that is the first half of the command. In the Hebrew this word is "daman." (דָּמַם) Depending on its verb stem, it can mean any of the following: "To grow dumb, be still, be silent, to quiet, be laid waste, be destroyed, to perish, to doom, cut off, cut down, cease, forbear, hold peace, rest, stand still, wait, tarry."
The Hebrew verbs can have a negative and positive meaning, like here - to be quiet, or to be destroyed. In the Hebraic mindset we often live between two places, whereas the Greek mind seeks to come to a neat conclusion of either/or but not "both." A well known Jewish phrase is: "On the other hand." There is one position, and then "on the other hand" there is the other. So, with God, we often live in a fulcrum balance between two states.
I am to be still, to be silent, to quieten myself down in the LORD, while on the other hand I am to put my worry and ego to death and repent. I control my lack of wisdom to hold its peace and to let it be laid waste before the wisdom of HaShem. This is what it means Hebraically to "be still." While we wait patiently, all the evil of the world is doomed to perish. Yet on the other hand, evil seems to rise for a season and there is grief and great pain for the people of God. The Jewish people sing: "I believe with perfect faith in the coming of the Messiah; and even though He may tarry, nevertheless, I wait each day for His coming." Based on Habakkuk 2.3 this is the twelfth of thirteen principles of the Jewish faith. Said every day, this principle is simply called "I believe" (Ani Ma'amin). Did you know that the Jewish people of faith wait for the Messiah, just like people of a Biblical Christian faith? We are both waiting for Him and we are called to wait, patiently.
So what treasures are to be found in the Hebrew meaning of "Patience" that we simply cannot see in any other translation? Does it mean what we think it means? In this verse of King David's Psalm 37, the Hebrew word for patience is "chool" ( חוּל ) and it can mean all of the following: "to swirl, turn, fall, dance, writhe, tremble, endure, be in labour, give birth, be in deep anguish, be brought forth, be in distress, be in torment, to swirl like a whirlwind, to be born, have great pain, grieved, wounded, abide, look for, be sorrowful, travail, wait patiently, wait carefully."
Is this not how the Jewish people feel today, as they wait for their buses, as they walk to pray at the Wall? Do they go, or do they stay inside? Today will one of their loved ones be stabbed or blown up? How their hearts and minds must know this word "chool", their swirling like a whirlwind, their sorrowful travail. I was aching for the Messiah to come recently and it reminded me of pregnancy; when I knew I had to wait but all I wanted to do was see, hold and kiss the face of the life I love more than my own life. Premature birth is often not healthy (although wait for the final note at the end!). But, on the other hand, waiting is painful even when it has the promise of joy all through it. It is a joyful aching; a painful waiting. Just like waiting for our Beloved Messiah.
This joyful, painful pregnant meaning of patience in "waiting for the LORD" is hidden in plain sight in the New Testament: "For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Yeshua HaMashiach/Jesus Christ." (1 Thessalonians 5.2-9)
Only when we abide in the Word of God with His Holy Spirit can a Biblical patience have any hope of coming to life in us. But be prepared to pay the cost. We will most likely begin to suffer for our true Bible-believing faith and actions, or at least feel painfully at odds with the world and easy modern religion around us. "Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you." (1 John/Yonatan 3.13) Death to self and the crowd is never pretty, particularly socially. But then, on the other hand, neither was the Crucifixion! And on the other hand we will find the LORD and His sweet Presence like never before pervading our heart. What is better than blessing the LORD's heart with our reaching for purity, humility, repentance and obedience before Him, in response to the searing Truth and Holiness of His Word?
Interestingly, in this verse in Psalm 37, the verb stem used for "wait patiently until He comes" means an action performed by the subject on oneself. The six other Hebrew verb stems are either performed by us on someone else (active), or by someone else on us (passive). But this one alone means we take responsibility to act upon ourselves (reflexive). It is up to us to choose to wait patiently. This reflexive verb stem also "normally expresses an action that is repeated, customary and becomes habitual in nature. It can also sometimes be used to express actions that are contingent upon other factors." (Biblical Hebrew by Page H. Kelley) In this case we can see that "waiting patiently" is contingent on us "being still in the LORD" and in actually believing that He will come and He will deliver us through our present battles. The New Testament (Brit Chadashah) says, "Love is patient." (1 Corinthians 13:4). As Jews and Christians, do we wait patiently, encouraging each other, in our mutual love and waiting for Messiah? Or do we turn our back on our fellow suffering Jewish or Christian bride when persecution comes? Each generation from Yeshua's resurrection until now has hoped He would return to gather them in their lifetime. Even the first church: "Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to Him, we ask you, brothers, not to be easily disconcerted or alarmed by any spirit or message or letter seeming to be from us, alleging that the Day of the Lord has already come." (2 Thessalonians 2:1-2). The longest any person has ever waited for Him is the length of their life here on earth. But our Beloved has been waiting patiently for 2000 years to come gather His Bride. His Love is infinitely more patient than ours. LORD King, please give us more of Your abliity to wait patiently! Help us live each day we wait for You asking what is Your purpose for today? And give us Your courage and obedience to do what You then answer us through Your Word, in Your Holy Spirit, Father.
The only other time "wait patiently" appears as this coupling is again through King David. But this time, a different word for patience is used in the original Hebrew. Psalm 40.1 "I waited patiently for Adonai, till He turned toward me and heard my cry." This Hebrew word for Patience is "Kavah" ( קָוָה ) and it is beautiful in its hidden Messianic meaning. It literally means: "to hope in, to be gathered, gather together, look for" and again "tarry." It also shares its root with one other Hebrew word: "a measuring line / ruler."
Now do we see? He is coming again to gather His bride, He is preparing His Kingdom in Heaven with His measuring line ("I lifted up mine eyes again, and looked, and behold a man with a measuring line in his hand." Zechariah 2.1) and this waiting patiently can be painful, like labour. In times like these, our hearts may feel He is tarrying. But He will come! Both to answer our prayer needs now and to come gather us to Himself in His Kingdom! And it gets even more beautiful. In the Hebrew Psalm 40.1 it actually says "Waiting, I waited for the LORD."
קַוֺּה קִוִּיתִי יְהוָה (kavoh kiviti Adonai)
King David repeats the verb to literally say "Hoping/being gathered together/looking for Him even if He tarries, I gathered together/I hoped/I looked for Him." I get the impression our trust will be stretched as we wait patiently for Him through each day. If we really love Him we will want Him to return now. Even Orthodox Jewish Rabbis sign off their teachings, and even emails, with two words - "Mashiach Now!"
And again, if we go back to the Hebrew in Psalm 40, it doesn't actually say "... till He turned toward me and heard my cry" in the Hebrew. The verb for "turned" here can more fully mean "stretched out to me." (נָטָה - stretched out, incline, bend) Who stretched Himself out on the cross in order to reach me through my sin? We wait as if moving through a painful pregnancy for Him, yes, we stretch out our faith as we wait for His return or the outworkings of His Biblical promises in our lives now. But He was stretched out in pain waiting to win us to Him. When He returns it is I who will be the newborn, collapsing in rest and breath onto His breast and knowing my eternal life in Him has come out into the light for all eternity. Oh, the rest my soul will finally feel! I would add this maybe why His children feel the only way forward is to collapse as a newborn child in His palm and let Him carry us forward supernaturally in these days.
A Final Note on Premature Birth! Both my children were born prematurely in the world's eyes; one by a full month, one by two weeks. But they were both perfect, healthy and tiny. The LORD our Father knew the perfect moment to surprise me with the appearing of life, that would neither harm the one being born or the one receiving such a gift. I was ready. I had "instinctively" in His Holy Spirit packed my bags just hours before, even though it looked as if I had over a month to go before the expected due date. Then, suddenly, life came out of the secret hidden place into the light. It was a long and painful labour but I said one word in my mind over and over through the pain: "Yeshua, Yeshua, Yeshua." I see the spiritual end time lesson in that experience. So, is a pregnancy really premature if a child is born on the exact day, hour and minute the LORD ordains? Or is it just perceived as premature from the human eye, but perfectly on time to the Creator? LORD, may we be ready: "Watch therefore, and pray always, that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man." (Luke 21:36)
In conclusion, please pray for the Jewish people and the nation-faith of Israel in these days, as together, both Jews and Bible-following Christians wait for the Messiah. If you would like to learn more about the Jewish song Ani Ma'amin ("I believe"), about waiting for the Messiah through the pain of Jewish history, please click here. The short story of the song may break your heart for His Jewish people. LORD please protect Your land and Your people Israel, and help us glorify Your Name even through the painful waiting of these difficult days. Mashiach now!
For a longer version of this word please click here. And for the shortened edit of this word that went around the world in 5 years please click here.