The Riches Of Patience

Oh Lord, let Thy patience arise in me
As a spring of fresh water in a briney sea.

All who walk this chosen path soon realize,
That life can often be less than accommodating:
The unwashed grind down and vex us,
Seemingly, beyond endurance;
Circumstances strain, degrade, and deracinate,
Until the very chords of the heart threaten to snap;
Day after day we are overwhelmed
By the rush and competition of our times.
Indeed, for the walk of faith in a fallen world,
Patience is an absolute essential:

"In your patience, possess ye your souls."

"For ye have need of patience,
That, after ye have done the will of God,
Ye might receive the promise."


To freely suffer the aches and pains,
The privations and trials of life;
Sweetly, submissively, and trustfully;
To, each day, drink the bitter cup,
With the eye soley fixed on the Father's Face,
Without murmer, or complaint;
This needs the righteous patience
That only the Risen Savior can provide.
We can in no way live such a life,
Until we have learned to avail ourselves
Of the Riches of the Indwelling Christ.
So that we too may be filled,
With that calm, unreviling patience,
That enabled the Lamb of God
To stand silent before His shearers.

"And we desire that every one of you
Do show the same diligence
To the full assurance of hope unto the end:
That ye be not slothful,
but followers of them who
Through faith and patience inherit the promises."