Articles

Be Patient

by Lasserre Bradley, Jr.

In his epistle which is full of practical admonitions, James repeatedly encourages us to be patient. He says “let patience have her perfect work” (1:4), “be patient…unto the coming of the Lord” (5:7), “take, my brethren, the prophets…for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience” (5:10), “ye have heard of the patience of Job” (5:11).

The word translated patience has a stronger meaning than the way we use the word today. No one likes to be delayed in traffic or stand in a long line. Our patience often runs thin in those situations.

But Strong’s defines the word as meaning “cheerful endurance.”

It has also been defined as “staying power” or “fortitude.”

Count It All Joy

From the start James is very direct in giving instruction to those who are “scattered abroad” and are in the midst of great suffering. He says, “count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations” (1:2). Someone might conclude this preacher is a radical who has lost touch with reality. “How can I count it all joy when everything is going wrong? The apostle just does not understand how difficult my life is.”

But the inspired writer is not through. He says the reason you can count it joy is because your trial is producing patience or endurance, and as you learn to press on and endure the testings you will become spiritually mature. Something good is in view. Your suffering is not meaningless, you are going to gain ground in your spiritual development.

Now the inclination of human nature is to look for the eject button when trouble comes. The desire is to escape the trouble and end the pain no matter what it takes. This thinking often leads to dependence on human ingenuity and worldly wisdom rather than upon faith in God and His Word. The lesson is to “let patience have her perfect work” (1:4).

In other words learn not to give up when you are discouraged, learn to endure hardships and find your strength in the Lord during the darkest of times. The trial itself does not produce the maturity but perseverance in these times of testing brings about a spiritual toughness. You are made more aware of your weakness, more dependent on the strength God provides, more mindful that your real treasure is on the other side.

Warren Wiersbe writes, “Our values determine our evaluations. If we value comfort more than character, then trials will upset us. If we value the material and physical more than the spiritual, we will not be able to ‘count it all joy’! If we live only for the present and forget the future, the trials will make us bitter, not better.”[1]

You “count it all joy” when trials come, not because of something you feel, but because of what you know.

The trial itself is a great burden, the sickness involves much suffering. You are not asked to rejoice because you hurt or grieve, but because you know that “tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope” (Romans 5:3-4). No one likes trouble. No one wants to sign up to suffer. But you can count it joy to know your loving heavenly Father cares about you, and is training you through your trials.

Farmers, Prophets, and Job

In the latter part of the epistle, James gives us several examples of endurance and admonishes us to be patient, or endure, as did those of old times. He first points to the farmer. He faces many hardships. There are times it seems the rains will never come, but as he waits for “the precious fruit” he faithfully endures. He must submit to the pattern of the early and the latter rain. He can sow the seed but He is shut up to the mercy of God for the rain to fall at the appointed season.

He doesn’t sow the seed and reap on the same day.

He must endure the changing circumstances while he awaits the harvest. And so James reasons that we should be patient, knowing the long-awaited day is ahead, that the coming of the Lord draws near.

He then speaks of the prophets. These men were faithful in the face of great opposition. Jeremiah, Micaiah, Amos and others suffered greatly at the hands of their opponents, but they stayed on course. They did not compromise the message God gave them to deliver. They did not yield to the threats and the punishments that were inflicted on them.

They were in a position where they had to trust God; there was no other source of help. These men are examples for us. Let us “cease from man, whose breathe is in his nostrils” (Isaiah 2:22). Let us hold firm to that which is right, no matter how great the opposition may be. Let us suffer patiently knowing that those who endure are counted blessed.

Then James points to the example of Job — a man whose very name is associated with patience. Job lost his wealth, his children, the comfort of his wife and even his health. But he never gave up on God.

Yes, he had some bad days following his initial response of acknowledging God’s sovereign right not only to give but also to take away. There were questions he could not answer and perplexities that distressed him greatly but he said, “though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” and again “I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God” (Job 20:25-26).

As we look at Job’s experience we realize that enduring does not mean that you are doubt-free and without any great struggle. What it does reveal is that no matter what is lost, no matter what a dear companion might suggest, or what poor counsel is offered by friends, there is still trust in God. He said, “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee” (Job 42:5). He had a greater view of God and was certainly not going to turn away from Him.

God Is Using Our Trials

So when James tells us to be patient, he is not saying “dig your heels in and prove you can take it,” he is saying we can endure with the understanding God is using our trials to teach us lessons we could never learn without suffering. He points us to the perseverance of the prophets and the patience of Job. God sustained them in their trials and we too can expect His help.

He reminds us that the Lord is full of pity and tender mercy.

During our darkest days of trouble we often fail to maintain the right outlook and display the right spirit. We may feel that because of our failures the Lord has given up on us. But James says He is full of pity. The Psalmist expresses it this way: “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust” (Psalm 102:13-14).

These comforting words are not designed to excuse our failures but to remind us that, when we do fail or we feel that our problems are too big and we are too small, our Father looks on us with compassion. He knows that we are but dust and, while we may have forgotten it momentarily, our troubles have given us a reality check.

We are frail, we are weak, we do falter but we have a loving Father who cares for us even when we cannot understand the unfolding of His providences. We can count it joy when tribulation comes, knowing that our Father is training us to endure so that we will be complete, lacking nothing.

[1] The Bible Exposition Commentary, Vol. 2, page 338.

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