Patience then works experience, which indicates that through our trials we learn what it is to trust in God regardless of our personal circumstances. Experience is a good teacher even in secular matters, but how much more so when used for the maturing of the Christian man! The only superior teacher is the word of God itself.
And with experience comes hope, the hope that looks to God at all times, confidently expecting that he will cause all things to work out for our good, no matter how bleak it may appear at the moment. This is difficult to remember when we stand by the bedside of a dying child, or see our life’s savings disappear, or our marriage broken up, or our bodies breaking down with some wasting disease. But the child of God looks again upon the promises of God, and remembers his standing in Christ, and that he possesses the gift of justification, which no earthly circumstances can do the slightest thing to alter. He thus maintains a confident expectation that God will in due season fulfill His promises and bring him to glory, even though his temporal prospects may be for nothing except pain and sorrow.
samuelashwood 