Biding God's Time by F. M. W.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Mar 2, 1911

Biding God's Time

By F. M. W.

The Scriptures of truth represent patience and long-suffering as leading attributes of God's character. The Word of God says of those who will be heirs with Jesus Christ in the eternal ages,—that they possess the faith of Jesus. The faith of Jesus is something more than faith in Jesus. When we speak of the faith of Jesus, there comes to our minds the unswerving faith which he has exercised, not alone during his earthly existence, but through the eternal ages,—faith in the accomplishment of God's great purpose; patient waiting for the fulfilment of that purpose; long-suffering forbearance until time and circumstances shaped the conditions which his wisdom foresaw, and which his loving heart desired to have become an accomplished fact.

The sublimest spectacle which the universe of God presents, and that which reveals the character of God in its nobility and dignity, is the long, patient waiting of God in the carrying out of the plan of salvation. For six thousand years, evil has been doing its deadly work. It has hurled its defiance in the face of God, done despite to his holy name, persecuted his followers, put to death his only begotten Son, and filled the world with sorrow, misery, and death. By one word God could have swept the terrible picture from existence; but for the ultimate good of his children, for the vindication of his own character, which has been assailed, and in order that sin might be forever put down in his universe, he has endured this terrible experience, patiently waiting until the time when the universe of God, including the saved of earth, having seen sin's great object-lesson worked out, would proclaim the Author of their salvation as their full, unbiased choice, the sovereign of their supreme affections. For this triumphant result, the great Ruler of the universe has endured and waited. In this he has become an example to all his children, and we should take the lesson to heart and profit by its teaching.

In our finite understanding, how prone we are to forget, amid the trials and stress of mortal life, the lessons of biding God's time! We feel, as did Uzzah of old, that we must put our hand to the ark of God, and that unless we steady it, it will be dashed to ruin. We conceive plans which we feel should be put into execution. They may be just and right; but God in his overruling providence permits obstacles to interfere. Our plans fail to carry, we must seek other avenues for their promotion.

How hard it is to wait and trust at such a time! We feel that reforms should be effected in the work of God. We see, perhaps, men holding positions who are unworthy of the trust committed to them. We may see measures advocated which in our inmost soul we feel to be wrong. At such times there comes the temptation to feel that if our plans and our view of things are not carried through, inevitable disaster will come to the work of God. This, indeed, might be true if the work were dependent upon men; but the great God of heaven has his hand upon the helm. He is guiding the ship; he is caring for the ark. The oxen may stumble, and the ark may shake violently, but angel hands are holding it. The stumbling and the shaking are only to test our faith in God's overruling providence, and to lead us to see that we are dependent upon the vitality of heaven and not upon the power of feeble man.

Let us learn the lesson of patience in the work of God. If we see things that need correcting, let us judiciously and kindly seek, through proper channels, to bring about reform. This is our duty.

We can not stand clear before God if we fail, to the extent of our influence, to correct evil when it comes to our knowledge; but having failed, and still believing our cause just, let us bide God's time. Let us not become over-anxious or too greatly burdened. The cause is the Lord's. He is leading the armies of Israel on to victory; he is the Captain of our salvation. His interest in this work and his love for his cause and people exceed our finite devotion. And if we faithfully do our part, we can trust him to conduct us and the expedition with which we are connected, safely through to the end of the campaign.

David learned this lesson of patient waiting for God. He says: “I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.” There were other times in David's experience when he did not see the answer to his prayer; but he believed he would see it, and this kept him steady: “I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” It was the faith on the part of David that God would work that kept his soul in hours of distress. Let this be our confidence in these times of stress and storm. In waiting and in confidence shall we be saved. If we do not see to-day the full fruition of our hopes, if at times our hearts grow weary with long waiting, we may be cheered with the belief that in God's own time we shall see the “goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” Possessing our souls in patience, and keeping calm and steady, let us perform our work faithfully, standing nobly and truly at the post where God's providence has placed us, taking him as our blessed example in patience and long-suffering, and waiting for him in his own way to bring to pass his own divine purposes.

F. M. W.