Note 6 at Rom. 15:4: All the Old Testament scriptures were written for our instruction so that we would not make the same mistakes. A person who does not heed the lessons of the Old Testament is like a person who is trying to re-invent the wheel. People have already made mistakes and the Old Testament scriptures were faithful to report the consequences of those sins. We don't have to learn the same lessons by "hard knocks." We can learn at their expense instead of ours.

Note 7 at Rom. 15:4: Patience, comfort, and hope do not come to us by begging and pleading with God. You can not have a lasting measure of these things by having someone just lay hands on you. They come through the scriptures (see notes 12-13 at Rom. 8:24-25, p. 800)

Some people have also mistakenly thought that problems produced patience because of a misunderstanding of scriptures like Romans 5:3 and James 1:3. However, this verse makes it clear that patience is a product of the scriptures. If tribulations produced patience, then every Christian would be patient. We have all had tribulation.

Patience comes through God's Word, but problems cause us to exercise or use our patience and thereby become stronger (see note 8 at Rom. 5:3, p. 769).