August 15Now we exhort you, brethren … be patient toward all — 1 Thes. 5:14.
This seems to imply that the better balanced among the Lord's people should look with sympathy upon and exercise patient forbearance not only toward the weak and those who lack courage, but toward all, including those who have too much courage and self-push. … Growth in knowledge helps us to grow in this grace of patience, for as we appreciate more and more the Heavenly Father's patience with us, it helps us to apply the same principle toward others. … The thought that our Heavenly Father has favored and called anyone should make us extremely careful how we would co-operate with the Lord in respect to the call, and be as helpful as possible to all those who are seeking to walk with us in the footsteps of our Lord in our narrow way—Z '03, 24 (R 3135). The original word here rendered, "be patient," is makrothymeo, which means "to be long-suffering." Appropriate, indeed, is this exhortation and necessary is this quality. The physical, mental, moral and religious lacks, faults and weaknesses of ourselves, the brethren, the world and our enemies, call upon us to exercise long-suffering. Few, indeed, of the secondary graces are required for use more frequently than this grace; and hardly any of them is so rarely in evidence and is so difficult to practice. Therefore there is all the more need for the exhortation: "Now we exhort you, brethren … be long-suffering toward all"—P '35, 117. Parallel passages: 1 Cor. 13:4; 2 Cor. 6:4-6; Gal. 5:22; Eph. 4:1, 2; Col. 1:11; 3:12, 13; 1 Tim. 1:16; 2 Tim. 3:10; 4:2; Heb. 6:12, 15; Jas. 5:7, 8, 10. Hymns: 95, 198, 23, 143, 170, 21, 322. Poems of Dawn, 209: Wait, O Thou Weary One, a Little Longer. Tower Reading: Z '03, 23 (R 3135). Questions: Have I been long-suffering this week to all? Why? How? With what results? |
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WAIT, O THOU WEARY ONE, A LITTLE LONGER
WAIT, O thou weary one, a little longer,
A few more years—it may be only days;
Thy patient waiting makes thee all the stronger;
Eternity will balance all delays.
Wait, O thou suffering one, thy days of sorrow
Bring to thy weary soul its richest gain;
If thou a Christian art, a brighter morrow
Will give thee ten-fold joy for all thy pain.
Wait, O thou anxious one; the cloud that hovers
In gathering gloom above thine aching head
Is sent of God in mercy, and He covers
Thee with His heavenly mantle overspread.
Be patient and submissive; each disaster
Will bring thee nearer to thy loving Lord.
These trials make thee like thy blessed Master,
Who knows them all, and will His grace afford.
Be patient and submissive; strength is given
For every step along the weary way.
And for it all thou'lt render praise to Heaven,
When dreary night gives place to perfect day.
Yes, perfect day, the day of God eternal,
When not a shadow shall flit o'er the scene
In that fair land where all is bright and vernal,
And we will be with Christ, and naught between.
Wait, then, dear heart; control thy sad emotion;
God will subdue each angry wind and wave,
And when the voyage ends across life's ocean,
Within the haven of sweet rest will save.
WAIT, O thou weary one, a little longer,
A few more years—it may be only days;
Thy patient waiting makes thee all the stronger;
Eternity will balance all delays.
Wait, O thou suffering one, thy days of sorrow
Bring to thy weary soul its richest gain;
If thou a Christian art, a brighter morrow
Will give thee ten-fold joy for all thy pain.
Wait, O thou anxious one; the cloud that hovers
In gathering gloom above thine aching head
Is sent of God in mercy, and He covers
Thee with His heavenly mantle overspread.
Be patient and submissive; each disaster
Will bring thee nearer to thy loving Lord.
These trials make thee like thy blessed Master,
Who knows them all, and will His grace afford.
Be patient and submissive; strength is given
For every step along the weary way.
And for it all thou'lt render praise to Heaven,
When dreary night gives place to perfect day.
Yes, perfect day, the day of God eternal,
When not a shadow shall flit o'er the scene
In that fair land where all is bright and vernal,
And we will be with Christ, and naught between.
Wait, then, dear heart; control thy sad emotion;
God will subdue each angry wind and wave,
And when the voyage ends across life's ocean,
Within the haven of sweet rest will save.