Divine Love and It's Gifts

“Stablish your hearts, then, beloved brethren. Be ye ‘stedfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.’ Things are not what they seem. Dark nights are but the prelude to bright days. The rain shall be followed by the clear shining. When truth retreats, she only retires to leap to a greater victory. Though each wave as it comes up upon the shore may die, and you may think that there is no progress, yet the tide is coming in, even Jehovah’s tide of everlasting truth which shall cover all the earth. Be not discouraged! Go to your God. Get away, every man, from your circumstances and from your selves, and get to your Savior and your Shepherd; and there, like sheep in the pasture, lie down to feed; and then, like sheep obedient to the shepherd, rise up and follow him withersoever he goeth. God bless you this.”

- Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit: Volume 19 - “Divine Love and It's Gifts.“ (pg. 95)

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No, beloved, things are not what they seem. Thanks be to God!

Does the young Maple sapling say to herself: “I’m not growing.“? She feels the harsh wind, and bends low. With the passing of each new day, nothing seems to change for her. Yes, there are seasons, which hold a portion of time, and yet even with those: with the shedding of leaves, new buds forming, and her supplying wee little blossoms to encourage those around her; what progress is made? She is stationary. She must hold to a certain plot of earth and venture no further. And thus, has a fixed view of things. Her perspective is set. She looks around her at the giant Maple trunks not far away. She marvels at their strength, beauty, and firm stance. Oh, how they tower above her! Even their tender, wispy, shoots at the tip of their crown dwarf her slender trunk!

O, Beloved! How we can become dismayed with our limited perspective of time, yes? We look around us, like this young sapling, and can become oh so discouraged. We, like her, look around us. We, like her, have such a limited view.

My dear beloved. Go to your God! He is the one that has planted you here. Trust in Him. Please…stop (said gently). What are we to gain in ascertaining growth, hope, or even joy by our limited view of what is seen with these eyes? Or what is heard with these ears? Or what is felt with these emotions?

What can this beloved sapling do? Can she produce, with resolve, a determination to realize, more fully, a sure founded maturity or stature before her Time has come? No, beloved (said tenderly). She needs to wait. We need to wait. O, my soul. Wait upon your God!

Time is a gift, given to us by Him. Isn’t time itself a gift of patience? A beautiful expression of love? If He were to carelessly pull this beloved sapling up from the ground in compulsive haste, as if to stretch her fragile wood prematurely, would not her tender limbs break? Would not the feeble, delicate roots snap? Her life-source would be cut off. Her safe haven of moist soil, restoring moisture, and precious nutrients would be cut off completely! She would perish.

Our God is good. O, beloved! He’s loving, don’t you see? So very loving. We cannot see, or understand, or discern such things. And so, let us wait, patiently; gladly. Our Beloved God, he cares for us immensely. We can put our trust in Him.