in him of God, but now, instead of calmly waiting for divine instruction, he began to devise and execute plans for himself. He had not learned to wait as well as to labor, to suffer God's will as well as to do it. Signs of the Times, July 28, 1881. The characteristic that causes Gideon to stumble is his inability to wait for the divine instruction. He hadn't learned to wait even though he had learned to labor. He knew how to do God's will, but he didn't know how to suffer God's will. This is describing impatience. Gideon was impatient, and this characteristic is one of the very characteristics that goes to make up the remnant, the 144,000. Here is the patience of the saints. Gideon lacked patience, and in this sense, he's describing Adventism after the Great Disappointment. There was a work that needed to be accomplished for those people that would ultimately make up the 144,000, and one of the characteristics that needed to be worked out in their experience was that they needed to be the people that are identified by their patience. Here is the patience of the saints, and this Gideon had not accomplished in his experience. He'd been willing to serve the Lord fully, but he wasn't willing to wait on the Lord. Review and Herald, February 21, 1888, says this. No impatient man or woman will ever enter into the courts of heaven. We must not allow the natural feelings to control our judgment. If you're impatient, you're lost. If you're impatient, your natural feelings are controlling your judgment. Those that are patient will have their natural feelings in subjection to the higher powers. Their judgment will be directed and controlled by the Holy Spirit. Gideon did not have a willingness, he did not have the ability to suffer God's will. Evidently, Adventism is going to have to go through experiences that teaches them to suffer the will of God in order to develop patience. Signs of the Times, February 10, 1909, says this. Life is disciplinary. While in the world the Christian will meet with adverse influences, there will be provocations to test the temper, and it is by meeting these in the right spirit that the Christian graces are developed. The standard is high to which we must attain if we would be children of God, pure, holy, and undefiled, but how could we reach this standard if there were no difficulties to meet, no obstacles to surmount, nothing to develop patience and patience?