I was speaking to a member of our church who is proficient in mime. I commented that the young people who were learning mime were much better able to express anger and disgust than triumphant joy.

She agreed that anger and disgust are easier to portray. She went on to say the reason may be that in our experience of living we are more apt to experience dismaying situations than those that keep us in a state of ecstasy.

As I thought about this the experience of Queen Esther came to mind. Six months of the bitter and also six months of the sweet were necessary to prepare her for the king.

Maybe life on earth is the bitter and life in the spirit Paradise is the sweet—both being necessary for our acceptance in the palace of the greatest of kings.

In any case, to follow the Lord Jesus faithfully we must learn to hold steady during seasons when our joy and hope are deferred. In order to make a paradise of the present world we have to break God's laws.

The Bible tells us deferred hope makes the heart sick, but when the desire comes it is a tree of life—and no sorrow is added with it.

Will we wait patiently for the Lord or will we grab what we want regardless of whom we hurt?

There is no question that the lot of the saints throughout history has been one of patient suffering. Patience in suffering produces a perfect work.

The cross and the crown go together.

The recent teaching that Christians are not to suffer reveals the depths of apostasy to which we have fallen.

The Lord puts us in prison. We either remain as cheerfully as we can in our depressing circumstances or we bolt. I guess a lot depends on our view of God. Could it possibly be of God that we are denied what we so fervently desire?

Human sympathy cries, "Never!" The Bible says, "This is the way. Walk ye in it."

True Christianity is a hope for the future. The Bible promises fullness of joy, pleasures forever. But to receive the fulfillments we must wait patiently for the Lord.

If you are to get what you want when you want it you will have to betray those who trust in you. Which is it going to be for you? Will you keep on plodding along faithfully, carrying your cross, denying yourself that Christ may be served, trusting that the Master will reward you in this life or the next? Or will you manipulate people and circumstances until you have your way?

A lot of the latter is going on, unfortunately. Woe unto you if you stand in the way of such "Christians!"

But the true people of God will yet emerge in America, I believe. The synagogue of Satan will yet worship God at the feet of the saints.

And how will you feel when, after hanging on the cross of deferred hope, your God brings you into the Palace, ready for your six months of the sweet?