PASTORAL PATIENCE

“For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken. ” (Psalm 62:1–2, ESV)

Ministry—and life for that matter—is constantly a work of balance.  Whether we are dealing with how to allocate funds, how to spend time, or any host of issues, balance is ever important, yet ever elusive. 

Pastors often face a challenge of balance when they must make decisions.  My gut tells me I know what to do and wants me to act straightway.  My spirit tells me to slow down, to think, to pray, to wait.  Leaders suffer criticism when they delay decision-making, the common assumption being that they don’t want to make the hard call.  While this can be the case (which of us hasn’t put off a decision that was simple to make but would be hard for people to receive?) sometimes leaders do well to hesitate. 

Patience is essential to balance and thus a requirement for mature pastoral ministry.  In patience, you look like you’re doing nothing; in reality, you’re doing something crucial—you’re waiting on the Lord.  In our “do now, think later,” culture, most people don’t want you to wait.  And let’s face it, neither do you.  We want to get to the front of the line, have our answer, fix the problem, and we must do it all now.  But we must question if ministry works best, or works at all, in such a fast-paced, results-driven mindset.

Every pastor must wrestle with where ministry begins and how it happens.  In The God Who Comes, Catholic theologian Carlo Carletto wrote, “We must assume an attitude of waiting…We must do this because it is not our right to do anything else; the initiative is God’s, not ours.  We are able to initiate nothing; we are able only to accept.”  Ministry begins with the word and work of God, incarnated in Christ, by the empowerment of the Spirit.  As Pentecostals, we must be careful to remember that the heart of our theology isn’t what we do in the power of God, but what God does in the weakness of human beings (2 Cor. 4:7).  

Let’s consider a negative and a positive example regarding this pastoral dilemma of what to do with pressing circumstances.  King Saul offers an example of the personal and communal destruction that ensues when spiritual leaders fail to wait.  In 1 Samuel 13 war with the Philistines intensifies.  The people follow Saul trembling with fear and uncertainty.  Saul waits for Samuel, the man of God, to come and lead the people in worship so that God will deliver them. 

He waits a full seven days, but Samuel hasn’t arrived.  So Saul offered the burnt offering himself and with poetic timing, Samuel shows up just as Saul finishes, and he says “What have you done?” (vv 10-11).  As a result of Saul’s decision to seize authority that was not his, refusing to wait for the Lord, his life eroded and his kingdom fell.  Is the failure of many ministers today connected to this relentless need to do something before waiting?  We press more than we pray.  Patience must not be a virtue lost on pastors today.

There is another way.  In Numbers 9, during the celebration of Passover, certain men had become unclean by coming into contact with a corpse.  They come to Moses, asking about how they could offer sacrifices in their condition, and Moses’ reply is instructive: “Wait, that I may hear what the Lord will command concerning you” (v 8).  Moses tells the men to wait, but what does Moses do?  He also waits.  But his waiting isn’t passive.  He waits on the Lord.  He doesn’t need his hands to make a decision, but his ears.  He doesn’t act, he listens.  He doesn’t rush, he waits.  And sure enough, God speaks.

As pastors, we will be confronted with myriad decisions.  If we are true spiritual leaders, not just task managers and problem solvers, we won’t rush to a conclusion or to a solution.  We’ll wait in prayer.  This patient pastoral work takes uncommon faith.  Do you trust God to show the way?  Each of us must decide whether we follow God or he follows us.

The former seems obviously right, but it’s easy to act and pray like the latter:  “God, here’s what I’m going to do, please help me.”  I’ve prayed like this, then realized that I’m not pastoring when I invite God to join my efforts and support my decisions.  I pastor when I wait upon his wisdom and rely on his grace.  Pastoral patience acknowledges that God alone is the author of truth, freedom, hope, and all the things we, our people, and our ministries need.  To access God’s help, we wait.  In waiting, we pray.  If we are led to prayer, we’ll never fail to be in the right place.

“O Lord, be gracious to us; we wait for you. Be our arm every morning, our salvation in the time of trouble. ” (Isaiah 33:2, ESV)  

Nathaniel Rhoads serves as Area Leader for the Northern Nevada Section
He is Senior Pastor of Word of Life Fellowship in Winnemucca, NV