Real Faith Has the Power of Patience
Series: Real Faith (Book of James)
Brad Bailey – November 22, 2020
Intro
Let me add another warm welcome to you today. It’s now been over 8 months since the current coronavirus pandemic created a season limiting our ability to meet safely indoors. This week I shared my sense of what the most recent news reflects ...in terms of this long strange season of life. As the news reported that two vaccines have shown really high efficiency...and should actually begin distribution before the end of the year. And I expect that the results of the election will be settled and slowly land. And as such.... we may be coming up and over what we could call the “summit of uncertainty” as we head into the new year. A vaccine is likely going to be in distribution with some form of schedule ...and there will be an emerging clarity of political power and policies. So we could head into the new year with a significant potential for businesses and schools to begin having a solid basis to make decisions and plans. However.. it is still a long descent. Most estimate that distribution of vaccines will take until June to have reached the wide effect needed. So my sense is that we may soon begin to feel that we are on the descent...but it is still a long descent. We will have several months in which we have less uncertainty... but still experience limitations and losses...the underlying changes and challenges.
The slow descent from January to June will be served by growing in one virtue that is often hard to grasp...which is patience. We need the power of patience. The simple truth is that the past 9 months have been hard. I imagine every one of us feel tired of this season of constraints and closures. We feel a unique sense of pandemic fatigue. And we may feel frustrated. And when we get frustrated... we want to direct it at some source we can identify... and it adds to the way we can begin to lash out at others.
So I want to invite us to take a deep breadth...and listen as God speaks to us today from the Biblical Book of James. Written by the half brother of Jesus...who had become one of the most respected lives and leaders in Jerusalem...known for his maturity of faith. And he wrote that which was to be circulated and spread to all those who had been scattered and were facing hardships. And we come to these words in chapter 5... verses 7 through 11.
James 5:7-11 (NIV)
?Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord's coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. 8 You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord's coming is near. 9 Don't grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door! 10 Brothers, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job's perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
Six times in the passage I just read it talks about the word patience or perseverance. James is writing to people who have been scattered from Jerusalem. These are lives that have come to know the Messiah...their savior... and it is beyond what they ever understood before. It has begun to profoundly transform their lives. But now they have scattered and are facing a lot of hardship. They’ve already lived under the oppression of Rome... with it’s taxes and pagan beliefs... and now their commitment to Christ has meant they are not being welcomed by family... or treated fairly in work.
So James identifies just what they need... patience... the power to wait patiently. I would venture to say ...that many of us are not great at patience... at waiting patiently through hard times. I would venture to say that in general...we are at the forefront of human lives who have been shaped by expediency. We hate to wait. We are those who have been shaped by wanting fast food... the fast pass... and faster internet. We hate to wait.
Most of us find it hard to be patient when we we’re waiting in traffic... waiting in a shopping line...waiting at a doctor's office.... or waiting on hold.
And now we are waiting for a pandemic to be over.
So what a perfect time for God to speak to our need for patience. How timely that we come to this point in James... this focus on patience...which of course is something God speaks about throughout the Scriptures.
And here is what I sense when we hear a call to patience... I sense that for many of us... we hear the word “patience” and it sounds a bit dreary. When I get put on hold by some customer service representative... and they finally come back on the line and say: “Thank you for your patience”.... first off...I may feel a little guilty for what I was actually thinking and feeling... but even more notably...I don’t really take it as a compliment.
A lot of us aren’t even sure patience is a virtue...and if it is... it’s not one that we are drawn to.
We tend to like the virtues that sound exciting...and powerful. We hear the call to be courageous or bold...and something rises in us. We tend to like virtues such as courage and boldness. But when we hear the call to be patient... I think many of us hear something that sounds soft. The call to patience can sound like a call to be weak... passive...to just accept the way things are.
And this reflects how little we understand what patience really is.
Patience is the power to live with what is unfinished and love what is imperfect. Patience is the power to live with what is unfinished and love what is imperfect.
Patience is at the core of love... of divine love.
Many of you are familiar with a chapter in the Bible which expounds on the greatest virtue which is love. The Apostle Paul draws upon the Greek word agape to declare the that the ultimate virtue is the nature of love that is divine in nature. He tells us that everything else is empty without the divine force of love...and then he describes what love involves...and he begins...
“Love is patient.” - 1 Corinthians 13:4
Patience is the first quality that is associated with love...with the nature of divine love. Love has the power to endure what is unfinished...and to value what is imperfect. Love includes the power to not just flow with immediate self-gratification.... but to sacrifice for the potential good of another. Love has the power to care for imperfect and unfinished people... friends... spouses... and children. The only hope that my wife will love is ...is the work of patience. It’s been said that love ultimately begin where liking ends. Relating to life and other people merely by what we like... has no power ... no power to actually live and love in this world. In an imperfect world... if we could only relate to what we like...we will not make it through a single day. Love is the power to live beyond our selves...and patience is that power to love what is imperfect and unfinished.
It comes from God’s own nature. It is a divine love. We might recall that when the Bible speaks about what the Spirit of God seeks to develop in us... what we call the “fruit” of the Spirit... we are told that...
“...the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience...” - Galatians 5:22
The Holy Spirit is seeking to form in us these qualities... starting with love....and many deem that this should be read as “love” and then a semi-colon... that is... it should be read as love being the totality from which the other attributes are a part of. And so we are being told that the Holy Spirit that comes to work in us...is seeking to develop love... and that includes patience.
Why? Because patience is what allows us to love all that is imperfect and unfinished. Aren’t we glad that God has the power to love what is imperfect and unfinished? The Bible makes this really clear....when we read in 2 Peter chapter 3... verses 8 and 9.... Peter is writing to those who faced persecution... and hardship... and he says...
2 Peter 3:8-9?
Do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
What is allowing this world to go on in all it’s unfinished and imperfect ways? The patience of God. Patience is power...divine power. The original Greek word translated as patience... is a combination of words that carries the idea of having the ability to bear what is hard without immediately reacting. It is not simply stoic... but rather it reflects a commitment to another. He is saying.... “Don’t think of God as slow in returning to restore the world... as if He doesn’t care... because in fact...what is at hand is God’s power to suffer for the sake of those he loves.” He is saying, as you yourself bear hardship... understand that what lies behind all human hardship is divine patience... which is the power to love what is currently unfinished and imperfect. The truth is that impatience destroys...but patience loves.
What this helps us recognize...is that we confuse patience with acceptance ... with weakness... when in fact.... it is exactly the opposite. Patience is not weakness...it is the power to endure...the power to love what is unfinished and imperfect.
This is what James helps us to see. So let’s consider what James tells us. I want us to see when waiting patiently is an act of faith? And then how we can develop the power of patience.
James gives us three examples, three illustrations, he tells us we can learn from looking at farmers, you can learn from the prophets...and you can learn from a man named Job. And these three examples tell us something about when the power of patience can be an act of faith... of real faith.
First, he says, we need the power of patience that is rooted in real faith...
WHEN IS THE POWER OF PATIENCE AN ACT OF FAITH?
1. WHEN CIRCUMSTANCES ARE BEYOND OUR CONTROL.
Now that certainly applies to what we're going through right now, COVID-19, because none of us can control this global pandemic. And the real truth is that most of life... is beyond our control. The first example he gives is that of the farmer. He says...
See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord's coming is near. - James 5:7-8
The underlying truth is that God is working to fulfill the will of heaven... he has done that in the past... leading to the coming of Christ...and he is doing it now... leading to the return of Christ when heaven and earth will be fully united once again. Life as we know it...is unfinished...and imperfect...but God is at work. But we don’t control what only God can do. So we are like a farmer....who must live faithful to what we can do...but patient with circumstances that are beyond our control.
James points us to the farmer...because farming requires a lot of patience. There are no overnight crops. You do a lot of work...but then... you wait...and wait...and don’t have control over what is beyond your control to make happen. Farmers can’t control the underground process of growth. They can't control the economy. They can't control labor prices. All of that takes faith.
And most notably...farmers can't control the weather. That is what James refers to when he says... “how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains.” In Israel, they would plow and plant their seeds in the fall shortly before the common rain rains of that season would come ... which was essential to get things started. And then they would wait and wait...knowing that the Spring season rain was essential to finish the process...before harvest. Those rains were essential...and they had no control over them. Imagine how they might have looked up in the sky every morning... waiting... hoping.
There was nothing a farmer could do to make it rain and he looked forward with great expectation to harvest time. We can try to control what we don’t actually control. The farmer can go stare at the ground. The baker can stare at the oven. That’s called worry. Worry is a way we try to think we can do something when we can’t. Another thing we can do is try to make something happen. We can try to control other people by our helpful reminders... or harping on our kids or friends. While some level of engagement may actually be helpful... a lot is just a vain attempt to try to control what we don’t control. Patience is the power to stop trying control what we don’t control.
When the circumstances are uncontrollable, we need patience. We need to live like the farmer who develops a clarity about what they control...and what they don’t control.
Number two, we need the power of patience when the when the truth we represent isn’t understood or popular.
2. WHEN THE TRUTH WE REPRESENT ISN’T UNDERSTOOD OR POPULAR
When people resent what we believe....it’s hard. We all want to be accepted. We all want to be liked by other people. Many of us may know that what we have come to know is the greatest news the human soul could ever know...but others struggle to understand it... and to accept it. They may feel judged or threatened. And it’s a hard thing to bear. It’s hard when some part of our family may resent us...or when some friend rejects us.
This is what James refers to when he continues in verses 10 and 11...
Brothers, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. - James 5:10-11a
When God called out a people to know who he was...and to follow the way of His rule and ways... what became the nation of Israel... he called out some to be prophets... to be those who would speak to the people on God’s behalf. There was usually one primary prophet during each generation. And when the people drifted away from God... the prophet had to represent the truth. The people had come to justify the ways in which they were disobeying God... drifting towards their own destruction... and so they often resented the truth that the prophets represented.
In other words, what the people needed to hear... they usually didn’t want to hear. The people needed to stop and turn around... and change the direction of what they were choosing to do...but often...they didn’t want to hear that...they didn’t want to change. James says... we look back now and honor them...and appreciate that they were willing to speak the hard truth....but at the times....they were misunderstood... and maligned...and marginalized. [1]
And that reflects something that is still true. There is a part of everyone that resists God’s truth... and resists God’s calling to turn their lives over to him. People will resist and reject a lot of what we may represent. Now... none of us are in the same role as the prophets that God called out in Israel...and we shouldn’t assume that everything we believe and say and do represents God. But to the degree that we are representing the truth of God...we will often experience that the truth of God isn’t understood or popular. Many people have found that some or even all of their family members will withdraw from them... friends may back away from their relationship. We might not get invited to some social activities. Such reactions will require the power of patience... to live with what is unfinished and love what is imperfect.
Number three, you need to be patient
3. WHEN LIFE IS UNFAIR.
The power to persevere is hardest when we suffer real pain ...especially when it doesn’t seem fair. When we lose family too early in life. When we worked hard and lost our job. When we sacrificed to care for a child that is now wandering in life. When we get a diagnosis that isn’t because of anything we did. This is what James refers to when in verse 11 he says...
You have heard of Job's perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. – James 5:11
James is referring to Job in the Bible... known as the ultimate example of experiencing profound suffering that wasn’t the result of anything he had done. There’s a whole book in the Bible that bears his name. Job was a man who had been blessed with enormous wealth... as well as a great reputation. He was truly honorable...and everyone saw his great lands and livestock and family as a symbol of God’s blessing. And on a single day he lost it all. Most of his family was killed. He lost all of his crops. He lost all of his livestock and he got a terrible, painful, terminal disease. He literally lost everything in a day. The only thing he was left with was a wife who was nagging him, and she said, "Why don't you just curse God and die?" Not exactly a great support system. But the worst part in Job's life is that there's no apparent explanation. He's got no idea why all this is happening to him. And for 37 chapters, God says nothing to Job. He's silent. And in that silence, Job struggles with all that is so unfair... and all the ways others perceive his life. He had been renown and respected as a man who feared God.... who honored God...who loved God. And yet he literally lost everything in a day.
We discover that it was the ultimate test. We are told of a backstory in which Satan... the enemy of God and all human life... comes before God and essentially says that “Those you created don’t honor you... they just value the good gifts you provide. Even Job who appears to give you such great honor...the only reason he's serving you is because he's got it good. If you let me take away the blessings... he will curse you." And God said, "No, there is the capacity to actually have a relationship of love and honor. There is more in Job than what you claim" And he allowed Satan to take away all of the things that were good in his life and Job still served God. And Job struggled bitterly... but ultimately... the power of patience and trust prevailed. And James says essentially...”Remember the example of Job. Job continued to trust God when he lost so much...when he didn’t understand...when life wasn’t fair.” James says...that is the power of patience. And he recalls how ultimately God fulfilled Job’s life... because the Lord always treats us with tender, compassionate, and merciful kindness.”?
The book of Job is the ultimate testimony of the power of patience we need when life isn’t fair. And that is true for each of us...because life isn’t fair.
Life isn’t fair.
Other people who make little effort to be good people...will often get more of the temporal goods in this world.
People who are less kind may be more popular.
People who show less concern for health may not get the diagnosis you do.
Your hard work won’t always be rewarded fairly.
Even people who appreciate you....won’t always appreciate you in the way you deserve.
So what James has captured... is that we need the power of patience when circumstances are beyond our control....when truth is unpopular...and when life is unfair.
So how can we develop the power of patience in our loves? [2]
HOW CAN WE DEVELOP THE POWER OF PATIENCE?
Let me quickly share some ways we can grow in the power of patience.
1. Embrace adversity as a means to maturity.
This is at the forefront of what James wants to impart. You may recall he begins his letter saying:
"Consider it pure joy … whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." - James 1:2-4
James sees that the goal in life is maturity... which come through adversity and hardship. If we make the goal of our life only about comfort or having everything easy... we will find life deeply frustrating... and never satisfying. But if our goal is to become more like Christ... to bear the nature of God who is love... we will discover that God is able to use adversity for our maturity.
As we dare to consider the last stretch of this pandemic season... likely the first half of the new year... it will challenge us....it will try to deflate us. But what if we also saw it as an opportunity to develop patience...and to love with patience?
So the first step in growing in patience...is to make our goal in life that of maturity... and to see adversity as a means to maturity.
And second... and similar...
2. Understand patience as a source of strength, not weakness.
If we want to embrace the power of patience... it’s vital to be clear about what we are not embracing. We often may think that waiting is nothing more than passive resignation, giving into our circumstances, accepting what is wrong. Patience is never simply accepting the way things are... it is about standing firm when they are not finished. James says in verse 8... “be patient and stand firm.”
As the Biblical book of Galatians says,
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. - Galatians 6:9
Far from passivity, patience is a commitment to stand firm is what is good... to endure what may be hard for what is good...to endure what is unfair for the sake of doing what is right. [3] Someone described patience as a “conquering constancy.” It’s the power to overcome the temptation to give up or give in. Patience is the power to persevere... to endure... to love what is unfinished and imperfect.
A third way to develop the power of patience is to...
3. Expand our sense of time.
Remember... as finite creatures we live within the bounds of time. Our emotions are connected to our sense of limited time. But God is not bound by time. Our human experience will define something as being a long time... and assume that God is operating within that same limitation. But he is not. As we read earlier...
?
Do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. - 2 Peter 3:8-9
It helps me develop patience when I realize that how I experience waiting... is not a reflection of God...or eternal reality. It helps me to develop the power of patience when I expand my sense of time.... when I don’t assume that everything in bound within my finite experience of time.
A fourth way to develop the power of patience... is to...
4. Surrender control.
If we presume that we can control everything... we will never develop patience. There is a point in which we have to surrender control.... that we have to get over fairness. Some of you are living with some circumstances that aren’t fair. You aren’t being treated fairly. It can consume your thoughts with bitterness. We will feel unsettled until we shift to focusing not on what’s fair...but on doing what’s right. In a world that is unfinished and unfair... God models doing what is right...and we can find peace in focusing more on what is right for us to do.
This is why James refers to the return of Christ. James wants us to realize that God is in control... the long awaited Savior came and he will come back. Three times in this passage James refers to how patience is rooted in knowing Christ will return... the judge is close by. God is in control. [4]
We don’t control this world. We don’t control this pandemic. We control our behavior... but there is so much we don’t control. But there is an order that surrounds us. God is in control. God has a plan. God has a purpose. The most fundamental truth is that I am finite....and God is infinite... his ways are way beyond my ways.
And a fifth and very practical way to develop the power of patience... is to practice it.
5. Embrace even common waiting as a chance to exercise patience.
Life will have some major seasons of waiting... waiting to get through some hard circumstances...some uncertain times. As we already noted, those times of adversity can give us an opportunity to grow. But waiting is something that comes as we go about life’s common circumstances as well. Life has moments of waiting that we usually consider worthless at best. If I have to wait for anything... whether in traffic...or at a doctor’s office... my only instinct is to avoid it. But I am beginning to see that even the common times of unexpected or unavoidable waiting... can be healthy. They can be a way to surrender my vain sense of control. They can be an opportunity to learn to wait...to exercise waiting... to develop patience. So next time you call someone because you are stopped in traffic... don’t say “I’m stuck in traffic”... say “I am learning to wait.” “I’m exercising right now... working on developing my patience.”
And number six, another way we develop patience is to...
6. Stop grumbling... and seek gratitude.
In his challenge to us, James says...
“Don't grumble against each other...” – James 5:9
One translation of this verse says, “Don't blame your troubles on somebody else.” (New English Bible) As I mentioned at the start... when we get frustrated...we want to direct it at some source we can identify... and it adds to the way we can begin to lash out at others. We become less gracious. Some of us may realize that we have become more critical... some of us known that we have been grumbling against others.
Some of us need to face the truth that grumbling matters. We want to focus on what we think are the great spiritual battles for the faith...but James has been calling us to face the fact that real faith is worked out in the battles of everyday life...in the way that we relate to others. God knows that grumbling can become a power that wants to consume us. [5]
Some of us may need to consider if we are whining more than we are worshipping.
And what a great week to shift from grumbling to gratitude. This week... we are given a special focus on thanksgiving... on giving thanks. And it’s a great opportunity to shift from grumbling to gratitude. When we do...we will fuel the power of patience
We will grow when we shift our focus to God who is in control... who is patient because his purposes are still at work. When we focus on God...we can be lifted from our grumbling... to the reality of a power to love what is not yet perfect. When we shift from grumbling to gratitude...from whining to worship... we will be lifted above the temporal nature of what is uncontrollable... unreceptive...and unfair. We will find the eternal reality that gives us a ground for patience.
And finally, a seventh way we can grow in the power of patience, is to....
7. Consider God’s patience with us.
The final words of James in this text, say:
The Lord is full of compassion and mercy. – James 5:11
James is reminding us that our whole lives are rooted in God’s own patience with us. When we consider how unfairly we have responded to God... how we have lived as is we were little gods trying to overthrow the true king... wanting him removed ...then we can realize the power of his patience towards us. What we behold is his profound compassion and mercy. God is willing and able to suffer indignity... in order to make it possible for us to live forever with him... rather than separated forever from Him.
As we read, God is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
I want to give each of us an opportunity to respond to God’s divine patience... that exists right now for one reason...he does not want us to perish...forever separated from him...but rather to come home to Him. I want to give us an opportunity to pray...and if you sense a need to respond to God’s calling...for the first time...I want to invite you to simply join me as we pray. So to help us focus on God’s presence... lets close our eyes...and join in prayer.
PRAYER:
Confess... I am part of what is imperfect... I have tried to run my own life...
Help us develop the power of patience...the power to live with what is unfinished and love what is imperfect.
Help us shift from grumbling to gratitude this week.
Resources: Rick Warren (A Faith That Handles Delays Patiently); Ray Pritchard - Three Ways to Wait When Hard Times Hit; Tim Keller – PATIENCE (1996)
Notes:
1. As Dennis Davidson describes well regarding Jeremiah.
Let's just look at the example of persistent patience of one prophet, Jeremiah. God called him as a teenager while he was living in a tiny village. After Jeremiah preached his first message of radical repentance, his own family tried to kill him. What a way to start in the ministry! Undaunted, the young preacher stood in the gate of the Temple on a great feast day. He told the assembled people that their worship was worthless because they had no intention of obeying God
(Jer. 7). The religious establishment tried to kill him after his first public sermon (Jer. 26:11). The religious leaders beat him and stretched his limbs painfully in stocks (Jer. 20). After he wrote his prophetic book, a godless king cut it into pieces and burned it (Jer. 36). Finally, all of this got to Jeremiah. In a fit of depression, he blamed God and lamented his birth (Jer. 20:7-18). Yet, God would not allow Jeremiah to resign.
In Jeremiah 38, King Zedikiah wrongly imprisoned the prophet in a muddy well and left him to die. Jeremiah though voiced no complaint toward God or his captors. Even there God fed Jeremiah and protected him just as He did through out that terrible siege of Jerusalem. When Zedekiah summoned him and ask for his advise, Jeremiah told him, "Obey the Lord by doing what I tell you. Then it will go well with you and your life will be spared" (38:20).
Through all that happened to him, Jeremiah endured. Decade after decade, the lonely, single prophet cried out God's Word. At the end of his life, the Jewish refugees carried him to Egypt with them against his will. They could not live with him, and they could not live without him. Obedient living stretched Jeremiah to the breaking point, but he endured the hardships.
Jeremiah spoke in the name of the Lord and showed long-tempered obedience despite intense suffering. He showed long-suffering and learned not to complain or find fault with God's treatment. We are to imitate such behavior.
2. Patience is not just something we should resign ourselves to needing...but something we are told to pursue. 11 But you, man of God, must avoid these things. Pursue what God approves of: a godly life, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. (James 1, 5; 1 Timothy 6:11)
3. Similarly, we read in 1 Corinthians 15:58: “Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”
John Piper notes:
May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy. (Colossians 1:11)
Strength is the right word. The apostle Paul prayed for the church at Colossae, that they would be “strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience” (Colossians 1:11). Patience is the evidence of an inner strength.
Impatient people are weak, and therefore dependent on external supports — like schedules that go just right and circumstances that support their fragile hearts. Their outbursts of oaths and threats and harsh criticisms of the culprits who crossed their plans do not sound weak. But that noise is all a camouflage of weakness. Patience demands tremendous inner strength.” - From Article “The Power for Our Patience” by John Piper
4. James 5:7, “Be patient my friends until the Lord comes back.” James 5:8, “Be patient and stand firm because the Lord's coming is near.” James 5:9, “Don't complain because the judge is ready to come.”
5. As Tim Keller notes... “God is absolutely organic in his judgment. There’s nothing mechanical. God only condemns those things that are eating away at the fabric of the peace of your heart or relationships of the world. God invented the world to be at peace. God invented the world to be at harmony. God created the world for peace and serenity, and anything he condemns is something utterly destructive to you.” And God knows that grumbling can become a power that wants to consume us.
As C.S. Lewis describes, we may struggle with grumbling ... but if we do not confront it... over time we can go from grumbling to becoming a grumbler... who no longer can even have a self that can stand against it. Lewis says...“.... it begins with a grumbling mood, and yourself still distinct from it: perhaps criticizing it. And yourself, in a dark hour, may will that mood, embrace it. You can repent and come out of it again. But there may come a day when you can do that no longer. Then there will be no you left to criticize the mood, nor even to enjoy it, but just the grumble itself going on forever like a machine.”
