Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door! My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience. Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful. — James 5:7–11 (NKJV)
I’ve always liked the prayer, “Lord, give me patience, and give it to me now!” This seems to be more prevalent with the well-off. So, I guess this makes sense coming on the heels of James busting on the rich.
Yeah, but notice that James is now turning his attention to the brethren, who are mostly not rich. His message is simple but critically important—be patient. It’s a message for everyone.
So James gives three examples of patience: the farmer, the prophets, and Job. Individually they show how patience pays off.
But it’s the common thread that is James’s message here—impatience doesn’t help. In fact, it’s destructive. That’s the point of verse nine.
Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door!
Wait. What? James condemned the rich who have cheated their laborers and stored up wealth (and wrath!) for themselves.
But is James now saying that the victims of that cheating can also be condemned—for just grumbling? How can this be? Can that sin be just as bad as the cheating?
In a way, yes. Both sins are what you might call “sins of atheism.” They display not trusting God (or not believing in Him at all).
Impatience is America’s signature sin; it’s an integral part of our culture. We’re marinated in it. That was true before computers, but it’s ubiquitous now—especially with kids that grew up staring at computer screens.
Yeah, “screen time” is the enemy of every parent. Kids nowadays have the attention span of a goldfish, and the patience to match.
Conversely, my prayer partners and I have noticed a distinctly slow style in how God answers our prayers. It often feels like He’s making a point of teaching us patience.
You’ve never had a prayer with a short deadline?
Sure, some prayers have been urgent; we’ve seen some stop-your-heart miracles there.
What do you mean by “stop-your-heart miracles”?
It means something spectacular that cannot be explained as mere coincidence or anything natural. I say ‘stop your heart” because they’re so awesome they leave you in shock.
But they’re rare and not the point here anyway. Teaching patience seems to be the more common motif. A frustratingly slow pace has been a relentless theme with my prayer buddies and me. Many of the biggest cases, with the most impressive answers, have been agonizingly slow.
The Lord even seems to deliberately hold back until after the intensity of our prayers has waned. Only when our prayers had settled into an enduring—even monotonous—style has God brought glorious results.
Methinks there’s a point to that.
Me too. God seems to be making the same point that James makes in this passage. Being in a hurry is toxic.
And this connects to grumbling. Impatience can make you upset with someone who hasn’t done anything wrong. That’s frighteningly far from glorifying God.
Okay, I’m starting to see how this can be so serious that James could say something like, “Behold, the Judge is standing at the door!”
Yes, if everything is about God’s glory, and this kind of sin is particularly embarrassing to the kingdom, then it’s a major sin, even if it seems minor from a human perspective.
But I think there’s also a secondary lesson in God’s timing, particularly His tendency to wait until prayers have lost their initial spark to act. I suspect He’s teaching us that prayer “intensity” isn’t the secret sauce.
Why would that be?
One of the subtle lessons for a Christian is that God is God. I know that sounds obvious, but what I mean is that Christians often aren’t willing to fully relinquish “control” over things. We need to learn that it’s totally up to God how (or whether) He’s going to answer our prayers. Prayer style, or intensity, does not control the outcome.
This reminds me of the “body English” people use to try to affect the path of a bowling ball that’s half way down the alley. They know it has no effect, but they do it anyway.
Not sure this is analogous. I don’t think Christians even know that they don’t control things. And with that I’ll say goodbye until tomorrow.
