Sabbath Thought – Patience

I received a letter a fellow elder in this region wrote to the members where he serves. I thought it was very good and wanted to share it with you all.

There is an old saying among farmers and ranchers that goes like this: “You can’t move any faster than the slowest cow”. Ponder that a moment. There is a principle here worth considering. How many of us run out of patience quickly when we are forced to wait for something to happen? While doing a little research for this message, one writer stated frankly “We have a ‘I want it yesterday’ culture in the US.” That is so true for so many.

Neil Burton, M.A., M.D. wrote in a recent article in Psychology Today titled The Lost Virtue of Patience: “In a study of millions of internet users, researchers found that, within just 10 seconds, about half of users had given up on videos that had not yet started to play. What’s more, users with a faster connection were the fastest to click away, suggesting that technological progress is actually eroding our patience.” That is a sad reflection on our society today.

We are soon going to observe the fall Holy Days picturing the return of Jesus Christ to set things right in the world, along with Satan being bound. That will be followed by a wonderful 1,000 years of renewal of peace, joy and fulfillment for people that have never experienced that. We can hardly wait! But wait we must. In Luke 21:19, Christ stated “in” (Authorized Version) or “by your patience, possess your souls.” In other words, patiently endure and stay the course to the end goal. The wonderful gift of the Holy Spirit helps us do that. In Galatians 5:22 one of the fruits or results produced by the Holy Spirit in us is being “long-suffering” or patient.

Patience is also linked to Godly love. 1 Corinthians 13:4 tells us “love suffers long” or is patient. How much loving patience do you have? How much of it do I have? We should all evaluate ourselves in this matter. This applies in small things as well as big ones. Some of us long-time members recall due to erroneous reasoning that we thought Christ would have returned 50 years ago! We are still waiting. We are learning that God does things in His time, not ours. We must continue the patient endurance that He wishes to see in us in every aspect of life.

Some 60+ years ago I was sent to the pasture to bring our dairy cows to the barn for evening milking. There were stragglers and I ran out of patience. I aggressively forced them to move faster. My dad caught me doing that and chastised me sternly. He knew many of those cows had udders filled with milk and he did not want them agitated which would cause reduced milk production. The lesson was brought home to me: you can’t move faster than the slowest cow.

So, how are we doing in exercising patience as we wait for God to work out His plan for us in all aspects of our lives?

Ken Skorseth, Associate Pastor, North and South Dakota

13 September, 2025