"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus."
"He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter."—Isa. 53:7.
How great was the patience of Jesus! Even among His own
disciples, how forbearingly He endured their blindness, their misconceptions
and hardness of heart! Philip had been for three years with Him, yet he had
"not known Him!"—all that time he had remained in strange and culpable
ignorance of his Lord's dignity and glory. See how tenderly Jesus bears with
him—giving him nothing in reply for his confession of ignorance but
unparalleled promises of grace!—Peter, the honored and trusted, becomes a
renegade and a coward. Justly might his dishonored Lord, stung with such
unrequited love, have cut the unworthy cumberer down. But He spares him, bears
with him, gently rebukes him, and loves him more than ever!—See the Divine
Sufferer in the terminating scenes of His own ignominy and woe. How
patient!—"As a sheep before her shearers is silent, so He opened not His
mouth." In these dreadful moments, outraged Omnipotence might have summoned
twelve legions of angels and put into the hand of each a vial of wrath. But He
submits in meek, majestic silence. Verily, in Him "patience had her
perfect work!"
Think of this same patience with His Church and people
since He ascended to glory. The years upon years He has borne with their
perverse resistance of His grace, their treacherous ingratitude, their wayward
wanderings, their hardness of heart and contempt of His holy word. Yet, behold
the forbearing love of this Savior God! His hand of mercy is "stretched out
still!"
Child of God! are you not undergoing some bitter trial? The
way of your God, it may be, all mystery—no footprints of love traceable in the
chequered path; no light in the clouds above; no ray in the dark future. Be
patient! "The Lord is good to those who wait for Him." "Those who
wait on the Lord shall renew their strength!"—Or have you been long
tossed on some bed of sickness—days of pain and nights of weariness appointed
you? Be patient! "I trust this groaning," said a suffering saint, "is
not murmuring." God, by this very affliction, is nurturing within you this
beauteous grace which shone so conspicuously in the character of your dear
Lord. With Him it was a lovely habit of the soul. With you, the "tribulation"
which works "patience" is needful discipline. "It is good for a man
that he should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of God."—Are you
suffering some unmerited wrong or unkindness, exposed to harsh and wounding
accusations, hard for flesh and blood to bear? Be patient! Beware of
hastiness of speech or temper; remember how much evil may be done by a few
inconsiderate words "spoken unadvisedly with the lip." Think of Jesus standing
before a human tribunal, in the silent submissiveness of conscious innocence
and integrity. Leave your cause with God. Let this be the only form of your
complaint, "O God, I am oppressed; undertake for me!"
"In patience," then, "possess you your souls." Let it not
be a grace for peculiar seasons, called forth on peculiar exigencies; but a
habitable frame manifested in the calm serenity of a daily walk—placidity amid
the little fretting annoyances of every-day life—a fixed purpose of the heart
to wait upon God, and cast its every burden upon Him.