Time is an important element in all God's plans: we are not, therefore, to be disappointed when the test of endurance is applied while the blessings we crave tarry long. God took time to frame the world and to fit it for human habitation; time to give the world its necessary experience with evil; time to prepare for the advent of Christ as the world's Redeemer; time for the preparation of the Church and the rest of His Gospel-Age people to share in His glorious reign; and time must be allowed for the shaping and adjusting of the individual affairs of His people. God has not forgotten when the answers to our prayers seem to tarry long. He who heeds the sparrow's fall and numbers the very hairs of our heads is not indifferent to the faintest call or the smallest necessity of His humblest child.
The providences of God on behalf of His people involve many delays to test their patience. Those who endure these tests with courageous hearts will thereby become strong in the Lord. Therefore they wait on the Lord amid all the varying circumstances of life, assured that He who is for them will manifest this in every time of need that comes into their lives.
Jer. 14:22; Psa. 25:3, 5, 21; 39:7; 123:2; 62:1, 2, 5; 33:20; 37:7; Hos. 12:6; Gal. 5:5; Psa. 130:5, 6; 40:1; 25:21; 69:3; Mic. 7:7; Dan. 12:12; Isa. 40:31; 64:4.
