The Discipline of patience - Chambers, Oswald
Yea, wait thou on the lord . Psalm 27:14 (RV )
The subject of patience is so largely dealt with in the bible that it ought to have a much larger place in our bible studies and talks.
Patience to most minds is associated with exhaustion, or with patients, consequently anything robust and vigorous seems naturally to connect itself with all that is impatient and impetuous. Patience is the result of well-centred strength. To wait on the lord , and to rest in the lord , is an indication of a healthy, holy faith, while impatience is an indication of an un-healthy, un-holy unbelief. This well-centred strength, or patience, forms a prominent characteristic in the bible revelation of god, of our lord Jesus Christ and of the saints.
Then on our utter weakness and the hush
Of hearts exhausted that can ache no more,
On such abeyance of self and swoon of soul
The Spirit hath lighted oft, and let men see
That all our vileness alters God no more
Than our dimmed eyes can quench the stars in
heaven:
From years ere years were told, through all the sins,
Unknown sins of innumerable men,
God is Himself for ever, and shows to-day
As erst in Eden, the eternal hope.
Frederic W. H. Myers
The patience of God
Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard, that the everlasting god, the l ord , the creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? (Isaiah 40:28)
The god of patience. (Romans 15:5)
How unmoved by, while yet unremoved from, the affairs of men is our god! He changes not and yet he does not reign in remote regions away from men; he is in the thick of all mens perplexities and loves. The gods of other religions are unmoved by mens troubles simply because they do not care; but our god in his love and compassion imposes on himself our weakness and pain, while yet he is unmoved from the well-centred strength of his mighty purposes. If we trace in the bible with reverence the lines along
Which the patience of god most obviously runs, it will well enrich us. Let us trace, for instance, the patience of god with
The worlds ages
According to the bible, the history of the world is divided into ages(1) the preadamic; (2) the Eden; (3) the antediluvian; (4) the mosaic; (5) the church; (6) the kingdom; and the remarkable thing in the record of the ages that have been, and that are, and that are going to be, is that each age ends in apparent disaster. In this connection read carefully (1) genesis 1:2; (2) genesis 3:24; (3) genesis 7:19; (4) john 19:1516; (5) 2 Thessalonians 2:14; (6) revelation 20:79. This is very unexpected for one would naturally suppose that the bible would show how successful god had been with the worlds ages, successful, that is, in the way we count success, and because the bible does not prove this, mens minds revolt and they say that all gods plans have been overthrown by the devil and god has been check- mated, so to speak; or else they say that the bible view is simply the fancy of a few oriental religious men of genius and is not of any use to us nowadays.
Perhaps the illustration of an artist at work on a great canvas will throw more light on the attitude of the god of the bible to the worlds ages. In the preliminary stages of his work the artist may sketch in charcoal and for days execute sketches of varying excellence, and the beauty of these sketches may win our admiration. Then one day we are perplexed to find that he has begun to confuse and obliterate with paints all his beautiful drawings; but he is really interpreting the meaning of those sketches which was hidden from us.
Or take the old-fashioned way of erecting a scaffolding and building the structure inside. The scaffolding may be so skill fully erected and admirably proportioned and be there for so long that we come to consider this the scheme in the mind of the architect. Then one day we see the loosening of ropes and planks and ladders, and the turmoil destroys for ever the skill and beautiful proportion of the scaffolding; all that is happening is but to clear the real building that it may stand nobly before all as a thing of beauty. There is something similar to the bible revelation of the way god deals with the worlds ages. There have been prophets and students who handle the bible like a childs box of bricks; they explain to us the design and structure and purpose; but as time goes on things do not work out in their way at all. They have mistaken the scaffolding for the struc- ture, while all the time god is working out his pur- pose with a great and undeterred patience.
The lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long suffering to us ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. (2 peter 3:9)
There are no dates in his fine leisure. Then we might trace the patience of god with
The worlds anarchy
And god saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth. . . . And it grieved him at his heart. (genesis 6:56)
For he said, surely they are my people. . . . But they rebelled, and vexed his holy spirit. (Isaiah 63:8, 10)
Every other view of sin, saving the bible view, looks on sin as a disease, a weakness, a blunder, an infirmity; the bible revelation shows sin to be an anarchy, not a missing of the mark merely, but a refusal to aim at the mark. Sin is that disposition of self- rule which is enmity against god (see Romans 8:7), and as one traces right away from genesis the clear indication of gods patience with this anarchy, his working out of the atonement which deals with the fundamental disposition of anarchy against himself, one reaches the unfathomable, supernatural patience of god. During the ages, human history proves that sin in man makes his heart naturally atheistic. We are all atheists at heart, and the whole world is but a gigantic palace of mirrors wherein we see ourselves reflected, and we call the
reflection, god. Know ye that the lord he is god: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves. . . . (psalm 100:3)
Isaiah 63:8, 10, already quoted, exhibits the patience of god with this disposition of anarchy in his own children. In the new testament this spirit of anarchy is called the old man, the carnal mind, which, until it is crucified by identification with the cross of Christ, will continually rebel and vex his holy spirit. It is this spirit of anarchy that has con- fused the interpretation of gods dealings with men. Lastly, we might look at the patience of god with
The worlds acknowledgement
In returning and rest shall ye be saved; . . . And ye would not. . . . And therefore will the lord wait, that he may be gracious unto you. (Isaiah 30:15, 18)
How long-suffering our god is until we acknowledge him, and how full of misery and perplexity and sorrow, and worse, men are, until they do acknowledge god. Erasmus in a wonderful passage shows the unnec- essary anguish he went through before he basked in the realisation of the acknowledged love of god:
I must confess it was the very bitterness of extremity that first compelled me to love him, though of him- self no less lovely than love itself. It was the sharp sauce of affliction that gave edge to mine affections, and sharpened mine appetite to that sweet meat that endureth to everlasting life. But now having had some little foretaste of him, i am ever in a holy ecstasy, so ravished, so transported, with a fervent desire of him and of his presence, that where i am, there am i not; and where i am not, there i am. The soul is where it loveth, not where it dwelleth. But god commendeth his own love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8 rv)
The phrase his own love is very beautiful; it is gods own peculiar individual love, just as the love of a mother is her own peculiar love, and the love of a father is his own peculiar love. Every different kind of love illustrates some aspect of gods love; but it must not be forgotten that the love of god is his own pecu- liar love. The word translated commendeth conveys the meaning of recommend. Because of the disposition arising from anarchy against god, men do not see or believe that the cross of christ is the expression of gods own love; but when a man is convicted of sin, he begins to discern the marvellously patient love of god, and as he looks at the cross his heart slowly realises surely now i see he has borne my griefs, and carried my sorrows: yet i did esteem him stricken, smitten of god, and afflicted; but he was wounded for my transgression. Such a moral vision is an acknowledgement of gods own patient love with a twofold verdictfirst, that god is love, and second, that the natural heart of man is desperately wicked.
Until the world acknowledges god, very often the outcome of the patience of god is that his purposes are carried out in mans bad time, and not, as so many say, in gods good time. Gods good time is, now, and his children as well as others cause the repetition of his words in Isaiah 30:15, in returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not. Beware of going to sleep on the decrees of god. In regard to the fulfilment of some of these decrees, such as our salvation and sanctification and sacramental service, it is not a submissive waiting that is required, but the flinging up of our hands and the acknowledgement of gods right to us.
There is one solemn, unwelcome word of warning do not despise gods patience and keep him waiting beyond the limit.
Knowing this first, that in the last days mockers shall come with mockery, walking after their own lusts, and saying, where is the promise of his coming? For, from the days that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. (2 peter 3:34 RV)
The patience of our lord
Looking unto Jesus . . . Who . . . Endured the cross, despising shame, and hath sat down at the right hand of the throne of god. For consider him . . . That ye wax not weary, fainting in your souls. (Hebrews 12:23 RV)
In many sections of the christian community to-day enthusiasm for humanity is the main characteristic, but it gives a sudden alteration to this point of view when we consider the life of our lord Jesus Christ, and notice that his first obedience was to the will of his father, not to the needs of humanity. It is a difficult matter to adjust the relationship of these two callings, but the delicate adjustment is brought about by the spirit of god, for the spirit and the word of god ever put first things first, the first thing is love to god and obedience to god, and the second, service to humanity.
Let us consider the subject of the patience of our lord under three heads: the fathers will; the fathers weakness, and the fathers waiting.
The fathers will
The underlying element in satans temptation of our lord is his seeking to remove the first thing. Satan tempted our lord, as he tempted the first Adam, to do gods work in his own way; and the underlying point in the strenuous replies of our lord is always in one direction God and gods will first. For i came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me ( john 6:38). Hebrews 10:7 emphasizes this then said i, lo, i come (in the volume of the book it is written of me, ) to do thy will, o god (cf. Psalm 40:7), and the light thrown on the sufferings of our lord as an individual will interpret the remarkable statement in Hebrews 5:8 (rv )though he was a son, yet learned obedience by the things which he suffered.
In speaking of our lord Jesus Christ we must bear in mind that we are dealing with a unique being, of whom it is distinctly said that he emptied him- self to marked limitations (see Philippians 2:67 RV ). This point is mentioned here to show that the sufferings of our lord did not consist in a wilfulness contrary to his fathers will, but in the fact that he, without question, let god the father express through his life what the saviour of the world should be.
Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. (Luke 22:42)
The patience of our lord with the fathers will and the fathers purpose is a wonderful topic to study.
And it explains also the harsh misunderstanding criticisms that have been made during the past centuries.
The next aspect in which the patience of our lord exhibits itself is more startling, and at the same time more illuminating, viz. , the patience of our lord with
The fathers weakness
The phrase, the weakness of god, is astonishing, but scriptural. The weakness of god is stronger than men (1 Corinthians 1:25). Our astonishment arises from the fact that what we call strength from the natural standpoint may be weakness; and that what god calls strength is too often esteemed by men as weakness. It was so in the life of Jesus Christ judged from the standpoint of the natural man. The fathers weakness is exhibited in the aspects of the cradle, the cross, and the called.
In Isaiah 7:14, the word comes therefore the lord himself shall give you a sign; behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
How much attention, think you, could the mighty roman empire, the tramp of whose legions shook the world and whose laws girdle it till now, pay to that little babe born of a Jewish peasant girl and laid in a cows trough! It was beneath the possibility of that gigantic world-powers notice. As g. K. Chesterton has stated:
All the empires and the kingdoms have failed, because of this inherent and continual weakness; they were founded by strong men, and upon strong men, but this one thing, the historic christian church, was founded upon a weak man, and for that reason it is indestructible, for no chain is stronger than its weakest link.
The writer points out the thing that we are emphasising, gods ways of working are weakness from mans standpoint.
How patient our lord ever was with the weakness of god! And he never explains himself to any man saving as he receives, recognises and relies on the holy spirit. Our lord could have commanded twelve legions of angels to his assistance, but he did not.
Or thinkest thou that i cannot beseech my father, and he shall even now send me more than twelve legions of angels? (matthew 26:53 rv )
What weakness! Our lord lived thirty years in Nazareth with his brethren who did not believe on him ( john 7:5); he lived three years of popularity, scandal and hatred; fascinated a dozen illiterate men who at the end of three years all forsook him and fled (mark 14:50); and finally he was taken by the
Powers that be and crucified outside the city wall. Judged from every standpoint save the standpoint of the spirit of god, his life was a most manifest expression of weakness, and the idea would be strong to those in the pagan world who thought anything about him that surely now he and his crazy tale were stamped out.
It is this factor of weakness that alone expounds the revelation given in the old testament as well as in the new.
For he grew up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. (Isaiah 53:2 RV)
Yet when mans wisdom is rendered foolishness by the breaking forth of the spirit of god, he understands the unspeakable wisdom of god and the unspeakable strength of god to lie in what he before called foolishness and weakness.
‘Tis the weakness in strength that I cry for!
my flesh, that I seek
In the Godhead! I seek and I find it. O Saul,
it shall be
A Face like my face that receives thee; a Man
like to me,
Thou shalt love and be loved by, for ever! a
Hand like this hand
Shall throw open the gates of new life to thee!
See the Christ stand!
Robert Browning
What is as weak as one baby? Another! And so our lord himself taught that we must all become babes. No wonder Paul says:
For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. (1 Corinthians 1:26; see also john 3:7 and Matthew 18:23)
it is the baby weakness which is so misunderstood in the new testament teaching, and the patience of our lord with us until we learn the absolute necessity of being born from above is only equaled by his own patience with his fathers will.
But god hath chosen the foolish things of the world . . . ; the weak things of the world . . . ; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, . . . Yea, and things which are not. . . . (1 Corinthians 1:2728)
In every age it has always been the despised crowd that have been called Christians. The cross, the climax of our lords earthly life, is likewise an exhibition of the weakness of god
But we preach Christ crucified, unto Jews a stum- bling-block, and unto gentiles foolishness. (1 Corinthians 1:23 RV)
Probably in the cross more than in any other aspect of our lords life do we see the stumbling- block presented to the wisdom of the world. Wise men of intelligence after the flesh cannot understand why god does not speak, and misunderstanding, prejudices, and unbelief prevail among all men until by receiving the spirit of god as babes they perceive that our lord Jesus Christ from the cradle to the cross is gods great eternal word.
Let us look at the final aspect of our lords patience
The fathers waiting
For he must reign, till he hath put all his enemies under his feet. (1 Corinthians 15:25 rv )
It is vastly important to remember that our duty is to fit our doctrines to our lord Jesus Christ and not to fit our lord into our doctrines. Our lord is god- man, not half god and half man, but a unique being revealed from heaven, and the holy spirit alone can expound him. Let us emphasis again what has been already emphasized, viz. , that our lord incarnate dis- tinctly subjected himself to limitations.
But of that day or that hour knoweth no one, not even the angels in heaven, neither the son, but the father. (mark 13:32 RV )
Much discussion is thus foreclosed that would otherwise gather round and confuse the life of our lord and his temptations, in so far as these are disclosed to us. The patience of our lord with the fathers waiting is truly a great and wonderful deep. God the father on occasions witnessed to his son this is my beloved son: hear him (cf. 2 peter 1:17 18); but yet god never vindicated his son to the men of his own generation because it was not the fathers purpose to do so. He left him to the supreme satire of the Jews on the cross in silence, and our lord too was silent, he opened not his mouth. Read prayerfully mark 15:2932, and note what might be termed the dilemma of Golgotha in which Christs own words were turned into a cruel jest and hurled back into his face while he was on the cross. The way of sorrow for our lord was turned into a way of derision. Men laughed while gods heart broke, and thus while hard slanders rose against god and against his christ, the father waited, and with pure supernatural patience, the prayer arose from the lips of our lordfather, forgive them; for they know not what they do (Luke 23:34).
And the end is not yet; the father still waits. It must be borne in mind that the mystery abides. All The poetical things and the mystical things that have been said and written about our lord are but effusions that appear and disappear while the mind of the unregenerate man alternates between ridicule and confusion.
The patience of god and the patience of our lord is working to one grand divine event, and our lord knows, as he did in the days of his flesh, how all his saints are straitened till it be accomplished.
But i have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am i straitened till it be accomplished! (Luke 12:50)
Right for ever on the scaffold,
Wrong for ever on the throne;
But that scaffold sways the future,
And behind the dim unknown
Standeth God within the shadows,
Keeping watch upon His own.
James Russell Lowell
The patience of the saints
We are bound to give thanks to god always for you, . . . For your patience and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions which ye endure. (2 Thessalonians 1:34 rv )
The life of faith is the life of a soul who has given over every other life but the life of faith. Faith is not an action of the mind, nor of the heart, nor of the will, nor of the sentiment, it is the centring of the entire man in god.
The patience of faith the heroes of faith catalogued in the eleventh chap- ter of Hebrews were not men who vaguely trusted that somehow good would be the final goal of ill, they were heroes who died according to faith (verse 13 rv mg), not faith in a principle, but faith in a person who promises.
Seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us . . . Run with patience the race that is set before us. (hebrews 12:1)
This cloud of witnesses is not a noble army of poets, or dreamers, or thinkers, but a noble army
Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, waxed mighty in war, turned to flight armies of aliens. (hebrews 11:3334 rv )
These mighty acts were not wrought by diplomacy, but by faith in god, and we are urged to run with patience this same way of faith, looking unto jesus.
In dealing with the patience of the saints, the sub- ject naturally unfolds itself into the patience of faith, the patience of hope, and the patience of love. We have already indicated the chief matter in the patience of faith, viz. , faith in a person who promises.
The proof of your faith worketh patience. And let patience have its perfect work, that ye may be per- fect and entire, lacking in nothing. ( james 1:34 rv)
howbeit when the son of man cometh, shall he find the faith on the earth? (luke 18:8 rv)
here is the patience and the faith of the saints. (revelation 13:10 rv )
here is the patience of the saints, they that keep the commandments of god, and the faith of jesus. (revelation 14:12 rv )
These passages assuredly serve to indicate how prominent a place patience plays in gods plans for his saints. It brings again prominently to the front what was stated earlier, that patience is an indication of strong spiritual health, not of weakness and enervation.
The patience of hope
For by hope were we saved. . . . If we hope for that which we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. (romans 8:2425 rv)
let us rejoice in hope of the glory of god . . . Knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, pro- bation; and probation, hope: and hope putteth not to shame. (romans 5:25 rv )
be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the lord. . . . Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts. ( james 5:78 rv)
i john, your brother and partaker with you in the trib- ulation and kingdom and patience which are in Jesus. (revelation 1:9 rv )
The faith of the saints is, as it were, a god-given sixth sense which takes hold on the spiritual facts that are revealed in the bible. The hope of the saint is the expectation and certainty of human nature transfigured by faith. Let it be borne in mind that hope not transfigured by faith dies. But we hoped that it was he which should redeem Israel (Luke 24:21 RV). Hope without faith loses itself in vague speculation, but the hope of the saints transfigured by faith grows not faint, but endures as seeing him who is invisible.
The saint in the discipline of patience enters into an experimental understanding of the patience of god and the patience of our lord. The saint has been crucified with christ and testifiesi live; and yet no longer i, but christ liveth in me: and that life which i now live in the flesh i live in faith, the faith which is in the son of god (Galatians 2:20 rv).
The saint bears a strong family likeness to his lord, weak in him (2 Corinthians 13:4). The saint with a glad alacrity can be humiliated or emp- tied or despised; he can also with untainted holiness be exalted or filled or abounding (Philippians 4:12). The hope of the saint gives the true value to the things seen and temporalin fact the real enjoyment of things seen and temporal is alone possible to the saint because he sees them in their true relationship to god, and the sickening emptiness of the worldly-minded who grasp the things seen and temporal as though they were eternal, is unknown to him. The characteristic of the saint is not so much the renunciation of the things seen and temporal as the perfect certainty that these things are but the shows of reality. The patience of hope does not turn men and women into monks and nuns, it gives men and women the right use of this world from another worlds standpoint.
Wherefore we faint not; . . . While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal (2 Corinthians 4:16, 18 RV ).
The patience of love
The character produced by the patience of hope is one that exhibits the expulsive power of a new affec- tion.
But now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these is love. (1 corinthians 13:13 rv)
That the love wherewith thou lovedst me may be in them. ( john 17:26 rv ) because thou didst keep the word of my patience, i also will keep thee from the hour of trial. (revela- tion 3:10 rv)
There is one sovereign preference in the bible, viz. , love towards god, and that love is not a sentiment, it is the prayerful activity of a perfectly adjusted rela- tionship between god and the saint. Love in the bible is one; it is unique, and the human element is but one aspect of it. It is a love so mighty, so absorb- ing, so intense that all the mind is emancipated and entranced by god; all the heart is transfigured by the same devotion; all the soul in its living, working, waking, sleeping moments is indwelt and surrounded and enwheeled in the rest of this love. The saint at times soars like the eagle, he runs like the exuberant athlete, he walks with god and knows no reaction, he faints not nor falters in the largeness of the way
(see mark 12:2931); and, like tennysons sir gala- had, his strength is as the strength of ten, because his heart is pure,
That ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be strong to apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of christ which passeth knowl- edge, that ye may be filled unto all the fulness of god. (ephesians 3:1719 rv)
The patience of love works out in the practical true life of the saint; it is a love that suffers long and is kind. Love envieth not (rv ).
The saint has one striking characteristic, and that is in loving with a divine love. Its thirst is not so much to be loved as to be loveable. The character- istics in the life of the saint are the characteristics of our lords life. The saint bears a strong family like- ness to jesus christ.
The word of my patience is a striking phrase. It cannot be the patience of pessimism because that was not the characteristic of the patience of our lord; nei- ther is it the patience of exhaustion, for he shall not fail nor be discouraged. It is surely the patience of love, the patience of joyfulness, which knows that god reigns and rules and rejoices, and that his joy is our strength.
The patience of the saints may be illustrated by the figure of a bow and arrow in the hands of god. He sees the target and takes aim, he strains the bow, not to breaking-point, however severe the strain May seem to the saint, but to just that point whence the arrow will fly with surest, swiftest speed to the bulls-eye. The patience of the saints, like the patience of our lord, puts the sovereignty of god over all the saints career, and because the love of god is shed abroad in our hearts by the holy ghost, we choose by our free will what god predestinates, for the mind of god, the mind of the holy spirit, and the mind of the saint are all held together by a oneness of personal passionate devotion.
Work, for the Day is coming!
Made for the saints of light;
Off with the garments dreary,
On with the armour bright:
Soon will the strife be ended,
Soon all our toils below;
Not to the dark we’re tending,
But to the Day we go.
Work, then, the Day is coming!
No time for sighing now!
Harps for the hands once drooping,
Wreaths for the victor’s brow,
Now morning Light is breaking,
Soon will the Day appear;
Night shades appal no longer,
Jesus, our Lord, is near.
Annie L. Cog hill