Praying for Patience

Praying For Patience

A young man came to George Goodman of England one day and said, "Mr. Goodman, I wish you would pray for me that I might have patience." Mr. Goodman answered, "Yes, I will pray for you that you have tribulation." "Oh, no, sir," the young man replied, "it is patience that I want." "I understand," said the Bible teacher, "and I will pray for you that you may have tribulation.”

The astonished and disturbed young man was shown a passage in the Bible: "And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience" (ROMANS 5:3).

Some of the people of God have patience - a resigned patience that cannot honor Him very much. But there are instances, and they constitute a real testimony to the faithfulness and goodness of the Lord, where the joy of the Lord is the strength of His suffering child. Life is lived, one breath at a time, in a patience so mixed with the joyfulness that only can be seen in the midst of suffering. That life is seen as the life of God.

1. What does it mean that "tribulation worketh patience?"
2. Where have you seen this patience through tribulation work out in
your own life?