“And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience”
Excerpt from 500 Watching Points, watch #311
“When a patient is ready to be shown the value of affliction, and how he can use it in order to grow spiritually, and to test and develop “latent power,” as Mrs. Eddy writes on page 201 of Miscellaneous Writings, he learns how to reverse the attempt of evil to harm mortals. The purpose behind sickness is to upset and disturb thought, so that it lets go of God. When we reverse this intent and use affliction as a means of drawing nearer to God, we prove that all things work together for good to them that love God. Mrs. Eddy once wrote to a student, ‘May the God of Israel give you the experience that will lift you higher, whatever that may be. It is good to be afflicted when the results prove its uses. What we need is spiritual awakening and not healing of a material condition. We must have patience and not submit to error, but let us make patience the active process of spiritualizing our thinking.'”
It has been pointed out to me the importance of patience in our work for God. I decided to look it up in Webster’s 1828 Dictionary
PATIENT:
1. quality of enduring evils without murmuring or fretfulness; fortitude, calmness; submission to the divine will;
2. Not easily provoked; not revengeful.
3. Persevering; calmly diligent; constancy
4. Not hasty; not over eager or impetuous; waiting or expecting with calmness or without discontent; Without agitation, uneasiness;
My human sense of it before learning more about God here at Plainfield was just waiting and waiting anxiously and complaining, and then willfully deciding to take “things into my own hands”. That wasn’t patience but just human waiting without understanding how God works in our lives. I see more that patience is not just waiting but a spiritual activity because in order to express it, you must be doing something to counter the negative thinking that would keep you from being patient. The lessons here using the Bible and correct teaching of Science and Health make it clear that patience in our walk with God is a must not an option.
Charles Spurgeon writes; ““Be satisfied as you are, and do not wish to choose another man’s cross. Christ says, ‘Take up the cross, and follow me. He does not say, ‘Desire to have another man’s cross.’ Observe, too, that Christ does not say, ‘Murmur at your cross.’ That is the very reverse of taking it up.”
Now I see a new value in rebukes in that they are part of the process of spiritualizing our thinking. As was said in a recent Roundtable we should embrace challenges like David, in the Bible, who ran up to face and defeat Goliath. (1 Samuel 17: 48)