Be Patient, Your Payday is Coming
#18 in the Book of James Series
By Pastor Jim May
James 5:4-6,"Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you."
James 5:7-8, "Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh."
Once again we are coming face to face with one of James the Apostle’s favorite subjects: learning patience. I know what you are probably thinking – “I have enough patience already, so get on with it. Teach me something that I don’t know.” Well, my friend, that kind of thinking only proves the point that we all need more patience in suffering, patience in waiting and patience in serving.
In James 5:4-6, we read where God sees the hardships that we all go through. Your many days of working for almost nothing, or earning a pittance for your hard labor, do not go unnoticed by your Heavenly Father. God sees the oppression that this world puts upon his people and he is taking notes and writing names. Just as surely as I stand here today, I know that there is coming a day of reckoning for all the injustice, evil and cheating that goes on in this world.
It is a common practice today to get by fraud, or false advertisement, what you cannot get by any other means.
Take for instance the business of advertising for sales for just about any given business in the country. You might see an ad that says, “Come, and get it while it lasts! Certain types, models, etc. of our merchandize in 75% off, so don’t miss out. Come on down, and we might even have some good old country sausage for you if your hurry!” Now I’m not picking on any one business who may say these words, because the majority are all guilty as charged. The fact is, that many those things that are advertised are only put there for the old “bait and switch” routine. Advertisers use sales items like a carrot on a stick to get you to the store, but once you are there, the carrot disappears and the high pressure salesmen go into action.
What is the Bait and Switch? Its a tactic sellers use to get you to buy an upgrade of the original product on sale. Here’s how it works. A store will advertise a product for a low price with no intention of selling it. When you show up they will tell you how bad the advertised item is, and how the more expensive item is much better. So the store “baits” you with a sale item to get you to go to their store. Then their salespeople “switch” the item by convincing you to get the better model that isn’t on sale.
At other times you take the bait only to find out when you get there that the Sale Items are already sold out. Stores are required to have enough of an advertised item in stock to meet a reasonable customer demand. What’s a reasonable demand? Well, the store decides that.
The world is full of lies and deceit, and its getting nearly impossible to find a business that operates on complete trust and honesty. Do you trust used car salesmen? Are they all the same? Of course not. There are a lot of good honest people out there who want to do the right thing, but oftentimes they are caught in the web just like you are. Quotas are set, demands are made and if you want to keep your job, you will meet them.
That old term, “Dog eat Dog World” is truer than ever before.
But the Lord of Hosts sees it all. The cries of injustice are ever rising before him, and God will make all things right in the end.
Those who lived sumptuously, with more wealth than they could ever use, and never considered helping their fellowman, will face God and answer for their self-centeredness.
Meanwhile, James says that we need to have patience and endure all things as good soldiers of the cross. We must realize that justice will probably not come in this life, but in the world to come. God will supply your need. He will keep your in the way, but you may never get the best that this world has to offer because this world isn’t your home. Your reward is waiting on the other side.
Let them have their mansions in this old world, and one day they will burn away. But I have a heavenly mansion waiting for me over yonder. It’s in a land that is fairer than day, and in a city where the Lamb is the light, where moth and rust cannot corrupt. I’ve got a mansion over there because Jesus said that I did. Nothing down here can compare.
But I have to have patience until the day comes when the Lord of Hosts will make it right. Until then, I must learn to be patient in the face of oppression, and to bear up under the load that I must carry.
What is patience ? "Patience is a calm endurance based on the certain knowledge that God is in control."
Patience requires that we by longsuffering towards the trials and afflictions that come against us. "Longsuffering means that we do not retaliate against those who provoke us to anger, but we restrain ourselves and show mercy.” We can be longsuffering and we can show mercy toward those who misuse and abuse us, because we know what the end shall be. We know that God is in control of it all, and that, in the end, we win.
We must be like the farmer who works so hard to get his fields prepared and then planted. He does all that work, commits his time, money and labor into that field, and then all he can do is wait for nature to take its course. He has no promise of a bumper crop, in fact no promise of a crop at all. He just takes it by faith and moves on, hoping and trusting for the best. No amount of coaxing, no amount of pushing can make his crops grow faster.
He can’ dig up the seeds every hour to see if they are growing. He can’t pull up the plants and scream at the roots to hurry up and grow. He can’t pull on the leaves and stretch them to grow faster. All he can do is wait and have patience. He has to put it all in God’s hands and then go on about his business, working day in and day out, waiting for the rain, the sun and the earth to do their jobs under God’s direction.
James said that the farmer, or the husbandman, had to wait for the former rain and the latter rain before he would reap a harvest.
The Jews seldom saw much rain any more than twice a year; the early, or former rain, was shortly after the Feast of Tabernacles in October. They often said prayers for the rains to come in October, as soon as the seed was planted. Then, after the time of the growing season was past, there would come the latter rains. This was usually during the month of March, and these rains promised a good harvest.
We must wait like that farmer too. We have the former rain right now. We are saved by the blood of Jesus and filled with the Spirit as a part of that former rain, but the real harvest won’t come until the latter rain. The latter rain is coming when Jesus comes to take his Bride away. There we will know him fully and we will live forever in the presence of the Lord. At the latter rain, there comes a harvest, a harvest of men’s souls, those who are born again and ready to meet Jesus in the air.
So be patient. The latter rain is about to fall. The harvest is drawing near. This world is not you home, you’re only passing through. Your reward is waiting on the other side. He that endures to the end shall be saved. Enduring means that we must have patience and that our hearts must be set on Jesus and our Heavenly home. Must must get our eyes off of the world and fix them on Jesus alone.
What is it that tests your patience ? Is it long-winded preachers or long lines at the grocery store? One thing that tests mine to max every once in a while are those self-checkouts at Walmart. They drive me crazy.
Another thing is Telemarketers that call non-stop, trying to sell me stuff that I’m not the least bit interested in. What about driving around Baton Rouge?
Proverbs 14:29, "He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding: but he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly." Patience takes a lot of work and it can only come to he who allows reason to control him. Nothing in the world can make you look more foolish, or damage your testimony anymore than losing your patience and flying off the handle, but we do it all the time. We speak and act rashly and then we try to crawl into a hole and hide from who we really are – people who need more patience than we thought.
David says in Psalms 37:7-8, that we should,"Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil."
For years William Wilberforce pushed Britain’s Parliament to abolish slavery. He became greatly discouraged and was about to give up. His elderly friend, John Wesley, heard of it and from his deathbed called for pen and paper.
With trembling hand, Wesley wrote: “Unless God has raised you up for this very thing, you would have been worn out by the opposition of men and devils. But if God be for you, who can be against you? Are all of them stronger than God? Oh be not weary of well-doing! Go on, in the name of God and in the power of his might, till even American slavery shall vanish away before it.”
Wesley died six days later. But Wilberforce fought for forty-five more years and in 1833 he saw slavery abolished in Britain. Three days later he died. Only 30 years later, slavery was abolished in America as well. What if he would have given up ?
Patience is a virtue that is hard to learn and maintain, but it is absolutely necessary for us to have it before we can be the victorious Christians that we must be. Never give up trying to have more of it, and never give up trying to show it. Patience will grow as you grow and it is a good sign of spiritual maturity.
There is the story of another man who, when he was seven years old, his family was forced out of their home on a legal technicality, and he had to go to work to help support them. At age nine, his mother died. At age 22, he lost his job as a store clerk. He wanted to go to law school but his education wasn’t good enough to qualify for college.
At 23, he went into debt to become a partner in a store but three years later his business partner died, leaving him a huge debt to repay. At 28, after courting a girl for four years, he asked her to marry him and she flatly refused. He finally did marry and began to have a family but at age 41, his four-year-old son died. 4 years later he ran for congress and lost. Then 2 years later he ran for vice-president and lost, then 2 years later, he ran for congress once again and lost again. He just seemed to be living the life of a real loser.
Then, at age 51, Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States, and his life changed the course of human history, especially American History. Patience was one of his greatest virtues. He persevered though it all.
Where would our country be today if he would have given up ?
Where will others be tomorrow if you give up ?
God is in control. He knows your situation and has allowed it. Worship Him and serve Him with patience. Your reward is there, waiting for your arrival.
