PATIENCE AND CONFIDENCE

PATIENCE AND CONFIDENCE

I sympathise with you in the exercise of patience that you are subjected to, and to which it is plainly your duty to submit. If you are really dependent on the Lord and truly ready to do His will, and it only, you can commit all to Him and wait for His time. He that believeth shall not make haste. Why need you hurry if you reckon on Him? He cannot fail, and nothing can be lost if it be His will, though it may not be seized at the moment. The proof that you really confide in the Lord, and realise His care, is the restful subjection with which you wait for His pleasure. If a thing be His will for you, He will make it plain and remove all the obstacles. If you are truly ready to condescend to things of low estate, He will not allow mere means to stand in the way, because He may see it good for you to prove your faith in what at present ^[p. 233] you know so little about. I do not think you, or any young person used to comforts, have any idea of the trials and fears which afflict one with small means and with daily increasing demands. Of course, if I am in the path the Lord would have me in, He will take care to supply my need. But it is far harder to reduce oneself to greatly diminished means than to add to small means in order to meet increased demands. You would have to do the first before you would be able to attempt the second. The Lord’s will for you must solve the whole question, not merely what you would like. If you are really confiding in the Lord you will be quite patient and restful, and if it be of Him you will be stedfast, so that in every way you will be a gainer. The Lord keep you looking to Himself and learning His sufficiency, so that with Him you could do without any one else here — as it will be in heaven.