20 People Who Had to Be More Patient Than You

1. Mary

Mary faced great uncertainty as she carried a child as a virgin, searched for a place to labor and deliver, and lived life while awaiting her son to display his great passion.

2. Noah

Noah spent one hundred and twenty years building an ark that he would live on for three hundred and seventy eight days with his family and countless animals. He lived with the uncertainty of what the post-ark life would look like, yet he waited on the Lord to give him dry land and an opportunity to start anew.

3. Job

Job experienced great personal suffering, first, through the loss of his wealth and of all ten of his children in a single day, and then, soon after, through the loss of his own physical health. He endured these painful afflictions without compassionate or wise support from his wife or his closest friends, and yet persevered in his faith and trusted in the Lord's timing.

4. Daniel

Though he knew that refusing to pray to King Darius would get him thrown to the lions, Daniel patiently awaited his fate. Rather than lashing out at his unjust punishment, Daniel waited on the Lord, and God was glorified in the display of His power as He delivered His trusting servant from the lions' den.

5. Hosea

Hosea obeyed the command of the Lord to marry a woman who was a prostitute, and then he displayed great patience in continuing to love, accept, and forgive his unfaithful wife, just as the Lord forgave Israel, His unfaithful people.

6. Esther

In order to save her people, Queen Esther risked her life by bravely approaching King Ahasuerus without being summoned. Although the Lord is not mentioned in the book of Esther, it is evident that He was working through Esther’s patience and obedience to bring about His will for the Jewish people.

7. Joseph

Joseph believed God’s promise to make him a leader of his people and waited patiently for this promise to be fulfilled, even after being sold into slavery by his own brothers and enduring many hardships including imprisonment.

8. Abraham

God promised Abraham that he would be the father of many nations, although at the time Abraham and Sarah had no children. While Abraham did not display perfect patience, he was still required to wait for the Lord’s perfect timing. His promise of becoming a father was not fulfilled until years later when he was one hundred years old!

9. Cornelius

An angel of the Lord told Cornelius to send for Simon, called Peter. After sending for Peter, Cornelius waited with great expectation for his arrival so that he, his household and close friends might hear all that Peter had been commanded by the Lord.

10. Caleb

Caleb came through the Red Sea and into the wilderness looking with expectation to the land promised by God to the Israelites. Through no fault of his own, Caleb had to wait forty years in the wilderness before finally entering into this new land.

11. Jochebed

After Pharaoh decreed the death of all sons born to Hebrew women, Jochebed put her baby in a basket and sent him afloat down the Nile river where he would be rescued and adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter. Jochebed displayed great patience, strength and sacrificial love for her son as she watched him be named and raised by another woman.

12. Rebekah

As Rebekah left home to wed Isaac, her brothers blessed her by saying, “May you become thousands of ten thousands.” Rebekah, however, waited twenty years to conceive a child while having complete faith that the Abrahamic covenant could not be broken.

13. Moses

Moses left his life of luxury among Pharaoh's family to free the Israelite slaves and lead them to the promised land. He patiently followed the instructions of the Lord and spent forty years in the wilderness with people who schemed, bickered and constantly questioned his authority.

14. Paul

Paul continually urged his brothers and sisters to be patient with one another. It should come as no surprise that Paul understood patience after his dangerous travels where he was stoned, flogged, beaten, spent at least five years in prison and was shipwrecked three times!

15. Jacob

Jacob displayed great patience by agreeing to work seven years for the right to marry the woman he loved. After seven years, he was deceived and given in marriage to the wrong woman, causing him to work an additional seven years for his love, Rachel. 

16. Samuel

Samuel labored throughout his life for the welfare of his people and served as Israel’s last judge. Rather than losing hope in his people because of their sinful ways,  Samuel ruled them with patience and led them to repentance.

17. Hannah

Hannah was not only barren, but was taunted by her husband’s second wife and the children she bore. Hannah is known for her fervent prayer asking the Lord for a child, waiting patiently for that child and then giving that child back to the Lord for His service.

18. Simeon

Simeon had an angel reveal to him that he would not see death until he had seen the birth of the Messiah. We don’t know exactly how long Simeon waited for Jesus’s birth, but what expectation there must have been in his patient waiting!

19. Jesus

Our Savior, Jesus Christ, displays God’s patient character in His work of salvation. This is seen in His relationships with people, in the teaching of His disciples and in His perseverance through trial and suffering to death.

20. God

Our Heavenly Father is ever patient with his children though our hearts often wonder from Him. 2 Peter 3:9 tells us, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”

Beth Ann Baus is a wife and homeschooling mom of two boys. She is a writer and blogger who pulls from her own experiences of abuse, anxiety, depression and Tourettic OCD. Beth is an advocate for women struggling with sexual sin and strives to encourage young wives and mothers by pointing them to the grace offered only by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. You can read more about her at www.bethannbaus.com.

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