[Songs in the Night - March 10]
Behold, the Husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it.... Be ye also patient. James 5:7, 8
PATIENCE is a virtue which our Heavenly Father
desires to cultivate in us and he manifests in himself
the grandest example of it.
Through all the centuries
past he has patiently endured the reproaches of those
who, failing to understand the course of his wisdom
in executing justice and in working out the deep designs
of his abounding grace, attributed evil, and only
evil, to his truly glorious and holy character.
He
knows that "in due time" his character will be fully
vindicated, and so he patiently waits and works and
endures.
So also our Lord Jesus waits and endures.
He endured great humiliation in coming to our low
estate.
Then as a man he patiently endured the contradictions
of sinners against himself, and ungrateful
persecution, even unto death, from those he came to
save.
And, like his Heavenly Father, through it all he
was cheered in consideration of that "due time,"
though then in the far distant future, when his character,
and also the Father's character, would be fully
vindicated and manifested to every creature in heaven
and in earth.
And still our blessed Lord Jesus and our
adorable Heavenly Father await with patience the
grand consummation.
So, in similar attitude of mind,
we must wait; for the servant is not above his Lord,
and our rejoicing in view of the future will, if we
have the mind of Christ, be not only because of our
own prospective vindication and glory, but also in
prospect of the vindication and glory of God and
of our Lord Jesus, and of the prospective everlasting
triumph of truth and righteousness. Z'06-165 R3784:1 (Hymn 29)