Patience Forms the Most Beautiful Things in Life

Patience Forms the Most Beautiful Things in Life

Bear Patiently for God is With the Patient.

Many people see patience as a loss of time.

They suffer not because the suffering is unbearable but because of the story they tell themselves as time passes by. How many people suffer this anguish. They think,

“I am behind in life.”

“Life is passing me by.”

“ I have wasted years.”

“If I don’t make the most of life, I will regret it when I am old”

I am guilty of this too.

Most people feel at the mercy of time, rather than at the mercy of God. They see their life not in the hands of God but in the hands of time.

They see timelines delayed, plans rescheduled, help not yet delivered, oppression and struggles still exist and they conclude that time is being lost, wasted and God’s help is being denied.

But God owns time. It is His creation.

If He willed He could cause us to sleep for 300 years.

And He tells us that, man is in loss, except those who believe, do good deeds, urge one another to the truth and urge one another to have patience.

وَٱلۡعَصۡرِ﴿ ١ ﴾ إِنَّ ٱلۡإِنسَـٰنَ لَفِی خُسۡرٍ﴿ ٢ ﴾ ‫إِلَّا ٱلَّذِینَ ءَامَنُوا۟ وَعَمِلُوا۟ ٱلصَّـٰلِحَـٰتِ وَتَوَاصَوۡا۟ بِٱلۡحَقِّ وَتَوَاصَوۡا۟ بِٱلصَّبۡرِ﴿ ٣ ﴾‬‬

By the declining day, man is [deep] in loss, except for those who believe, do good deeds, urge one another to the truth, and urge one another to steadfastness.

Al-ʿAṣr, Ayah 1–3

What a beautiful paradox. Those who are patient, trusting God faithfully, are the only ones who are not in loss as time passes…

God tells us to seek help through patience and prayer. Seek Help through God and patience.

Nothing entrusted to God is wasted. What feels delayed for us is simply unfolding according to wisdom we cannot yet perceive. Moses spent 8–10 years in Midian working for his father in law (28:27). Joseph was imprisoned for years (12:42). Noah preached for 950 years (29:14) then endured the Ark for more than a year. Zachariah waited a lifetime for a child (19:8). Job endured prolonged suffering without knowing when relief would come.

The Children of Israel endured torture in Egypt for generations, with no obvious sight of help approaching. And when help did come, and they escaped with Moses they neither predicted that the sea would be parted for them to escape nor that Pharaoh in all his might would be no longer remain in power.

None of them had a timeline…

So we do not control time. We only control our response with the passage of time.

یَـٰۤأَیُّهَا ٱلَّذِینَ ءَامَنُوا۟ ٱسۡتَعِینُوا۟ بِٱلصَّبۡرِ وَٱلصَّلَوٰةِۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ مَعَ ٱلصَّـٰبِرِینَ﴿ ١٥٣ ﴾‬

You who believe, seek help through steadfastness and prayer for God is with the steadfast

Chapter 2 verse 153

The world tells you that delays are failures. They tell you that patience is sunken cost. They tell you to hastily act rushing but ultimately crashing into a metaphorical ditch. They tell you that God will not help you because you continue to endure, without any relief.

They say, “Where is the help of God? People are dying and suffering, and years have passed. Why do you wait for something to happen for you? You’re still working there? You’re still suffering?!”

But for the believer no time entrusted to Allah is ever wasted.

It is the test… God could easily bring about your prayer, but how many of us lose the beautiful meaning behind things acquired too quickly?

So perhaps God is watching His servants; will we trust God enough or will we abandon our faith in Him, walking away disgruntled?

Without patience time feels like theft. But with patience time becomes trust.

Trust in Allah, the Most Merciful…

The same One who perfectly proportioned the heavens and the earth to move in its orbits, with exact velocity or period is the same One we entrust with the time He gave us in this life.

Patience is acknowledging that a tree takes time to grow before you can reap its fruit. No amount of screaming at it will make it grow any faster.

Many things heal in time, grow with time, and resolve over time. Your sleeping needs time. Learning needs time. And difficulties take time.

Patience is realising that nearly everything in life emerges through patience, not in the absence of it. The most valuable things (gold, crude oil, diamond and gemstone) emerge beneath our feat under unbearable pressure and heat formed over billions of years.

Patience is realising that you need to be prepared before you have the fortitude to receive your prayer.

And perhaps you can only truly appreciate a thing, and surrender yourself in deep trust towards God, because you had to wait through the uncertainty of time passing.

Sometimes the waiting itself becomes the place where love of God deepens in us.

Patience helps you avoid rewriting the meaning of you life. Instead of concluding, “God has abandoned me. I am behind in life.” We conclude, “praise be to God, for truly He allowed things to happen at the right time. I am exactly as God ordained, where He wishes to be in my life.”

So be patient with beautiful patience – فَٱصۡبِرۡ صَبۡرࣰا جَمِیلًا

Al-Maʿārij, Ayah 5

Be patient with what you ask God of in this life. Be patient as you endure suffering.

And have beautiful patience.

Because you are not alone in your patience.

The verse uses معية “with”, because we need this companionship. We need comfort when it is hard to be patient.

So God tells us, He is with those who are patient. You thought you were enduring alone. But He is with you.

Your do not endure in vain, purposelessly.

إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ مَعَ ٱلصَّـٰبِرِینَ …

ربّنآ افرغ علينا صبرََا وثبّت اقدامنا…

Our Lord pour patience upon us and make us stand firm…

Lord, I trust Your timing more than my own anguish and panic. Protect this goodness for me, strengthen me while I endure this suffering, and help me to be of those who are faithfully patient with beautiful patience…

Photo by Maria Lysenko on Unsplash