How many times were you frustrated this past week? Everyday, it seems we all face frustrations. Sometimes they are only mild to minor frustrations while at other times they seem as big and monumental as Mount Everest. Sometimes their are frustrations with other people. Sometimes we get frustrated with ourselves. There are moments when any number of “things” can be tremendously frustrating. And then of course, there are people who frustrate us for reasons that at times we cannot even pinpoint. Sometimes we can even get frustrated with God because his agenda and ours don't seem to have the same timetable. What is interesting is that often our frustrations, whatever their original source may be, often create frustration in other areas of our lives as well. Frustration really has a way of being able to telegraph itself. Within an instant being frustrated can move into all aspects of our lives and relationships, even when the original frustration isn’t even remotely related to the new frustration.
How do you handle frustration? Now some deal with frustration very well. What is their secret? What is their formula for handling frustration?
In simple terms, they have learned how to be patient with themselves, with things and with others. However I believe that the real key to an enduring patience that will be able to handle the largest and smallest frustrations that life brings our way is to learn to be patient with God. Now that may sound almost sacrilegious, that we need to be patient with God but this lesson is taught over and over in scripture, especially in the book of Psalm. Here are just a few of those times. "I waited patiently for the Lord. He has put a new song in my mouth.” (Psalm 40:1,3) “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him.” (Psalm 37:7) “Be still, and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10)
So often I find myself getting so very frustrated when things don’t go the way I want them to or think that they should according to the timetable I have established. Now I know in my head that Fathers great and grand designs take time. My challenge is to believe it in my heart
I love the story about preacher and songwriter, Phillips Brooks. He was a man who was known for his poise and quiet manner. However there were times that even he suffered moments of frustration and irritability. One day a friend saw him pacing the floor like a caged lion. “What's the trouble, Dr. Brooks?” asked the friend. “The trouble is that I am in a hurry,” said Brooks, “but God isn't.” (Oh how know that feeling!) Brooks said, “The hardest task in my life is to sit down and wait for God to catch up with me.”
The truth is that it's not God who needs to catch up with us but rather it's that we need quit demanding that he catch up to us. A discipline that I am trying to learn is to, in every frustration, spend some reflective time asking what God is trying to teach me or can teach me. It not something I've mastered or even practice consistently but I can say that when I do I'm discovering that the biggest lesson is always the one about patience.
Patience is a lost skill in much of our society today. I don't think that there is any doubt that we all need to cultivate a more patient attitude. Jesus reminded us of that one time: "What I'm trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God's giving. People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes." (Matthew 6:31-34)
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