COMPONENTS OF PATIENCE: HOPE

By: Pastor Al

When our children were small, we took fairly long trips in our 1980 Chevy station wagon. Each summer we traveled from our home in Montana to visit our families in Michigan. These were good times, but the youngest children lacked an appreciation for how long a trip of sixteen hundred miles would take. So, having driven for an hour or two, one of them would pipe up and plaintively ask, “Are we almost there?” We then tried to explain that it would still be a few more days, and so they must be patient and view the passing scenery, watch for deer and antelope, and enjoy the kids songs on the eight track tape player. 

Like children, many of us are prone to ask in this time of “sheltering in place,” are we almost there? Are we soon at the point when we may move about freely and conduct the normal business of life? We may be asking this as we try to entertain ourselves with puzzles, games, phone calls, and Zoom meetings. How much longer must we wait? The need for the virtue of patience is sinking deeper and deeper into us. 

In our last article we saw that one component of patience is faith. To persevere we have to strongly believe that our Heavenly Father is in sovereign control of all things and that He does care for us and will provide for us. His Word repeatedly assures us of that. And this kind of faith produces another key component of patience, and that is, hope.

“To persevere we have to strongly believe that our Heavenly Father is in sovereign control of all things.”

Don’t you love that word? Perhaps the worst of all human suffering is the anguish of hopelessness. The Apostle Paul reminded the Ephesian Christians what they once were in their pre-conversion state: “having no hope and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12). Truth be told, Christians are the only people who have genuine hope – hope that is truly hope. 

Hope is often a word that is used loosely and doesn’t have much weight. We can say, I hope it will be sunny tomorrow. Or, I hope the Tigers will have a better year this year. Or, I hope the governor will soon lift the restrictions which she imposed on our lifestyle, and I hope that scientists will soon develop a vaccine for the Covid virus. Such hope is really no more than wishful thinking. It is weak, and its fulfillment is uncertain and unpredictable.

The truth is that we still live in a world which groans under the curse to which it was subjected because of sin. Multiple miseries abound as the consequence. And death is still the enemy which is lurking behind every illness and injury that we suffer.  Death can never be outrun, even with the most stringent precautions. Therefore, our souls will have no abiding comfort even if Dr. Fauci would announce one day that a cure has been found for the Corona virus and our economy would be robust again. As pessimistic as this may sound, we cannot realistically expect life in this world to be problem free. It will always be riddled with suffering and hardship. Job’s diagnoses of the human condition still holds, “man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward.” (Job 5:7)

“Because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, we have the certainty of participating in a glorious victory over sin and death.”

Yet we have hope. It is a “blessed hope,” as Paul calls it in Titus 2:13. It is a unique, splendid hope, of which there is no other. It is the hope which God has given us in His Son. Because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, we have the certainty of participating in a glorious victory over sin and death, even the redemption of our now death-prone bodies. We are not there yet. We still may have a long way to go on this journey toward our joyous arrival home.

Paul says in Romans 8:24-25, “For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” The day is coming, as the apostle writes, “When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory’.” So now we may boldly stare death (and everything that causes death) in the face and say, “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (I Cor. 15: 55, 57).

Victory over death is part of the glory which God promises those who are joined to Christ by faith and are waiting for His return when He will bring us to our new home in the restored creation. The apostle Peter, therefore, writes that God has caused us to be born again to a living hope. This hope is an essential component of patience. It casts its bright beams of light on all the shadows and darkness which we must pass through in this world, and it enables us to keep pressing on in our earthly journey. 

This is the hope which has been the inspiration of many hymn writers. I am thinking of the man named Charles Albert Tindley, who was born in 1851 to slave parents. He knew the shadows and darkness at an early age. His mother died when he only four, and he was separated from his father at age five. But by the grace of God, he learned as a youth to patiently press on. By his own initiative he learned to read and write at age seventeen. He developed a voracious appetite for learning, went to night school while working as a janitor of a church. He took correspondence courses at a seminary and studied Greek and Hebrew to prepare himself for gospel ministry.

“Faith always sees a star of hope.”

During the course of serving several churches, he also used his exceptional gifts of music and hymn writing. He wrote over forty hymns, one of which is in our Lift Up Your Heart hymnal: “Beams of Heaven.”

I like the song because it speaks of the darkness in which we grope and yet “faith always sees a star of hope.” That sure hope explains much of Tindley’s long life of service, and it made him yearn for going home someday to experience all that God promised him in Christ. 

I encourage you to carefully read Tindley’s tune, and may we share that yearning for celebrating our victory in the streets of glory – someday. Though we are not there yet, it will help us to be patient on our journey.

BEAMS OF HEAVEN 

1 Beams of heaven, as I go through this wilderness below, guide my feet in peaceful ways, turn my midnights into days. When in the darkness I would grope, faith always sees a star of hope, and soon from all life's grief and danger I shall be free someday.

Refrain: I do not know how long 'twill be, nor what the future holds for me, but this I know: if Jesus leads me, I shall get home someday.

2 Oftentimes my sky is clear, joy abounds without a tear; though a day's so bright begun, clouds may hide tomorrow's sun.There'll be a day that's always bright, a day that never yields to night, and in its light the streets of glory I shall behold someday. [Refrain]

3 Burdens now may crush me down, disappointments all around, troubles speak in mournful sigh, sorrow through a tear stained eye. There is a world where pleasure reigns, no mourning soul shall roam its plains, and to that land of peace and glory I want to go someday. [Refrain]

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. Romans 15: 13

COMPONENTS OF PATIENCE: FAITH

By: Pastor Al

What are you feeling now that you have been following the “stay at home” orders of the government for over five weeks? It would not be surprising that you are getting that squeezed in feeling. Your world has shrunk. The rooms in your home may be closing in. Finding worthwhile things to do is becoming more challenging. If your employment or business has been curtailed, you feel the financial pinch. If you are a child or teenager, you feel isolated from friends and teachers. Electronic games are becoming stale from overuse. Boredom sets in, and you feel at loose ends. 

What we are going through can be described in various ways. I tend to think that many are suffering something akin to the emotional disorder called claustrophobia. According to one medical news website, claustrophobia is “an anxiety disorder that causes an intense fear of enclosed spaces.” It is that feeling which can come over a person undergoing an MRI, having one’s full body encased in a long tube for over a half-hour. Anxiety builds, and you want to say, “get me out of here!”

We may experience this in various degrees. I have to admit that I struggle with that feeling to some extent. I want to go places and see family members and friends. I want to go to church to worship and to fellowship with my brothers and sisters in Christ. I want to visit those dear members who have to spend so much time alone. I grieve the loss of all that we freely enjoyed just several weeks ago.

And the element of fear creeps into my soul when I wonder how long this state of affairs will last. When can we freely move about again? Will we be able to take the vacations which we planned? Many wonder how long they will be employed or whether schools will open in the fall.

The increasing duration of our isolation and the uncertainty of the future ramps up our fear and thereby heightens the claustrophobic sensation. Undoubtedly what we are all going through is trying. We don’t like it. We want to break out of it, much like we would if we were locked in a box.

“As God’s people we have to ask, how does God want us to handle it?”

But we know that we are in this situation by the sovereign will of God, and as God’s people we have to ask, how does God want us to handle it? We are not the first people to be in trying times. And as we read our Bibles, we hear God telling us what he expects from us at such times.

One of the key virtues that He is looking for is patience. I have to be honest to say that I find myself giving this instruction some push back. I don’t like to wait, not in a check-out line or for warmer weather. That may be due to my spiritual immaturity still. Generally speaking, young children are impatient. When babies are hungry, they will cry till they’re fed. If children are promised candy, they want it now. As God’s Spirit does His work in us, He trains us in patience. Perhaps that is one of the greatest spiritual qualities God is teaching us in these times. If so, He must consider it to be of great value in the people He is forming in the image of Christ.

“As God’s Spirit does His work in us, He trains us in patience.”

Patience requires waiting. But patience is more than just waiting. Waiting in itself has little purpose. The way the Bible speaks of patience it means having the ability to wait for the good to come when no good is evident.

James uses the illustration of the farmer (James 5: 7-11). The farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop. He plants his seed. The crop is not visible at all. And it won’t be until the proper time. So the farmer has patience as he looks for the rains to come and the sun to shine so his crop can grow. If by the first of August, he looks over his corn field and doesn’t see any ears on the stalks, he doesn’t throw up his hands in dismay thinking he won’t get a crop. He knows he must wait.

What is this Spirit-borne patience made of? First of all, patience involves the exercise of faith. By faith, one acknowledges that God is sovereign over all and that even the adverse circumstances come not by chance but are directed by His Fatherly hand.

Faith then gives one steadfast determination to cling to God and submit to His will. It spares us from groping in confusion and gives us the peace to know that our loving God is in control when things seem so out of control. As Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Faith refuses to draw final conclusions based on how things appear at the present time.

“These precious promises are for us as much as they were for those who heard them the first time, and they are not nullified by a menacing virus or anything else.”

Furthermore, faith looks to God as our caring and sympathetic Father who never forsakes His children. These words of Psalm 103:13 are so assuring:  As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. Likewise, the Lord Jesus speaks these endearing words to His anxiety-prone people: Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? These precious promises are for us as much as they were for those who heard them the first time, and they are not nullified by a menacing virus or anything else.

So, we must hear God speak to us as our Heavenly Father, trust Him, and always keep our eyes open to see His goodness in the blessings which are there for us each day. By doing so, we will likely breathe easier, enjoy rest of soul and freedom of spirit – all of which yields the fruit of patience.

Faith, therefore, is an essential component of patience. There are other components which we will consider later.

Here are a couple of verses for personal meditation:

Psalm 62: 5-8

  For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,
    for my hope is from him.
6 He only is my rock and my salvation,
    my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
7 On God rests my salvation and my glory;
    my mighty rock, my refuge is God.

8 Trust in him at all times, O people;

Pour out your heart before him;

God is a refuge for us.

Psalm 27: 13-14

  I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living!

  Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage;

  Wait for the Lord!

The Fragrance of Praise

By: Pastor Al

When I was a child, we had a lilac bush in front of our house. At this time of early spring, I longed for it to bloom, not only to see the beauty of the flowers but especially to smell them. To me, there are yet few things that can rival the fragrance of fresh lilacs. That fragrance was such a welcome contrast on a farm with animals where the predominant smell in early spring was the odor of manure, especially when there were piles of it to spread from its accumulation during the winter. What a delight to the olfactory senses to sniff the fragrance of lilacs!

This reminds me of one of our favorite hymns and the historical context in which it was written. The place was Eilenburg, Germany, and the time was mid-seventeenth century, around a hundred years after the onset of the Protestant Reformation.

From 1618 to 1648 central Europe was embroiled in a bitter and violent war that involved ten nations. This conflict is called The Thirty Years War. It began as a clash between Catholics and Protestants. At that time the ideas of freedom of religion and the separation of church and state were foreign concepts to the people of Europe. The reins of government were held by royal families who often ruled at the behest of church authorities. Consequently, they would not tolerate competing religious affiliations.

“And to add to the misery from the war, diseases spread among the people.”

Politics and religion were entangled together, and the power of the sword was wielded against religious opponents. Eventually, the conflict was predominantly driven by political motives. One country tried to suppress and subdue another, always at the great cost of human life and untold destruction of property. And to add to the misery from the war, diseases spread among the people, typhus being the main one which was especially contagious and deadly. Famine also came as a result of all the mayhem. Historians estimate that eight to twelve million people died during this period. The stench of death was everywhere, and the misery suffered by millions was indescribable.

 Just before the Thirty Years War broke out, a young pastor of only thirty-one years old by the name of Martin Rinkart, came to minister to a flock in Eilenburg. Though the son of a poor copper smith, he was highly educated. He was highly gifted with musical and speaking talents and had a large pastoral heart, all of which came to unusual expression during the war years.

“[Rinkart’s] food supply and other goods were frequently robbed, but even then he shared the food he had with those suffering from the famine.”

He expended great energy to help his people who were suffering from the miseries of war and disease. He lodged soldiers in his house. His food supply and other goods were frequently robbed, but even then he shared the food he had with those suffering from the famine.The famine became so severe that groups of people would fight in the streets for a dead cat or dead crow.

Since Eilenburg was a walled city, many refugees from surrounding areas took refuge there putting an unbearable burden on the city. In 1637 the plague was especially severe, claiming the lives of thousands. Other clergy from Eilenburg either died or fled, which left Martin alone. That year he presided at the burials of four thousand people, at times fifty per day, one of whom was his own wife. By the mercy of God, he remained well but was often exhausted.   

Martin Rinkart was a hymn writer, and we may wonder what kind of hymn he would write in these dreadful times. We might expect him to compose a song that would express profound grief and implore God for His mercy. But instead, he wrote a hymn of warm thanksgiving and praise to God.

“It seems to me that he must have had an exceptional spiritual awareness of the goodness of God.”

It became one of the church’s most beloved hymns: “Now Thank We All Our God.” How could he do this under such horrible circumstances? It seems to me that he must have had an exceptional spiritual awareness of the goodness of God. He saw what most people are blind to, that God’s goodness and mercy do follow His children all the days of their lives, in spite of how bad conditions may be. (I wonder if there was a lilac bush in Eilenburg which reminded him of God’s goodness.)

Martin also knew of the victory achieved by Christ’s death and resurrection and that God’s people will dwell forever in God’s house, the new creation beyond the reach of sin and death. This was the sweet aroma Martin Rinkart smelled by faith even as the strong stench of death filled the air around him. How indebted we are to him for capturing some of that sweet aroma in his hymn and giving to the church so she may use it, even in hard times, to lift a fragrant hymn of praise to the glory of God.

“But may God give us eyes to see evidence of His goodness in spite of our hardship.”

These are difficult times for us, and they are especially hard to those who are struggling with other distressing circumstances. But may God give us eyes to see evidence of His goodness in spite of our hardship. Let us glory in the cross and resurrection of Jesus, and rejoice in the hope when all things will be made new. I would encourage us to sing or meditate on Rinkart’s hymn. Sing it as a solo if you live alone, or sing it around your dining room table for family worship. May it rise to God as a sweet-smelling fragrance of praise and subdue any feelings of discontent.      

Now thank we all our God
with heart and hands and voices,
who wondrous things has done,
in whom his world rejoices;
who from our mothers’ arms
has blessed us on our way
with countless gifts of love,
and still is ours today.

O may this bounteous God
through all our life be near us,
with ever joyful hearts
and blessed peace to cheer us,
to keep us in his grace,
and guide us when perplexed,
and free us from all ills
of this world in the next.

All praise and thanks to God
the Father now be given,
the Son and Spirit blest,
who reign in highest heaven
the one eternal God,
whom heaven and earth adore;
for thus it was, is now,
and shall be evermore.

A Time of Preparation

By: Pastor Al

For most life altering events we like to make appropriate preparations. A couple anticipating marriage goes to great lengths to prepare for their wedding. If one is going to be taking a new job or move to a new locality, he will likely invest much effort to prepare for such changes.

Right now all of us are going through a change of momentous proportions, and most of us feel totally unprepared for it. This is part of the angst we are feeling. We were not prepared for seeing shortages in grocery stores, for abruptly losing our job, for the demand for social-distancing, for not being able to go to church, for not even being able to go out for coffee with a friend, for the need to view others with suspicion, for the seemingly longer days, and for all other ways in which our lives have been pulled out of joint by the pandemic.

“None of us were prepared for this, and it can be upsetting and stressful to us. ”

Because we were not prepared for this, we are all struggling for ways of coping with the new circumstances. For those who are single, there is the challenge dealing with lonely solitude. Many senior saints fight boredom and look for worthwhile things to do. Parents have to find meaningful activities to engage their young children and teens. None of us were prepared for this, and it can be upsetting and stressful to us.

This upheaval in our lives is testing all of us as to what it is which gives genuine rest for our souls. I think we are discovering the truth of the famous saying of St. Augustine (A.D. 354 – 430), “Thou hast made us for Thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in Thee.”

The Heidelberg Catechism expresses a similar thought when it asks of us in Q&A 26, “What do you believe when you say, ‘I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth’?

“I trust God so much that I do not doubt he will provide whatever I need for body and soul, and will turn to my good whatever adversity he sends upon me in this sad world.”

A. That the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who out of nothing created heaven and earth and everything in them, who still upholds and rules them by his eternal counsel and providence, is my God and Father because of Christ the Son. I trust God so much that I do not doubt he will provide whatever I need for body and soul, and will turn to my good whatever adversity he sends upon me in this sad world. God is able to do this because he is almighty God and desires to do this because he is a faithful Father.

When our hearts take a strong grip on this truth, we will find a new steadiness and fresh courage to deal with the abrupt changes that have been thrust upon us.

Furthermore, we must be careful not to be absorbed by the current trial but must keep in mind the great future for which we now must prepare ourselves. Perhaps the present straits helps us to realize more the urgency to be prepared for the Day of Days when we will stand face to face with the Judge of all men and the earth as we know it will be no more and all things will be made new.

“These trying times are good times for preparing ourselves for that awesome day.”

Life in this world is moving on to that hour when all of history will end at the feet of Jesus. In terms of His Parable of the Ten Virgins (Matt. 25: 1-13), our Bridegroom is sure to come. Is it soon midnight when we will hear the cry, “Here is the Bridegroom! Come out to meet Him.” Will we be ready to enter with Him for the marriage feast and after sitting down with Him, He shuts the door? May we heed the warning: “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”

These trying times are good times for preparing ourselves for that awesome day by keeping a clear conscience, “making our calling and election sure,” and making the most of every opportunity to serve Christ. Though our schedules may be radically altered, let us not waste this time but use it do good, praying much, and finding new ways of being a blessing to others. This time is still preparation time.