“Don’t pray for patience.”
Who hasn’t heard that before, amen? It’s almost become an axiom when it comes to prayer, hasn’t it? Some of you, I suspect, believe it and have even advised someone in your family or one of your friends not to pray for patience.
I disagree. I pray for patience all the time … and so should you.
If I pray for patience and I end up in a long line or a slow-moving line everywhere I go, or I find myself in a traffic jam, God didn’t cause those things to happen to teach me patience. Life happens. But when I find myself in those situations … when I feel my blood pressure and my frustration rising … when I want to explode because the check out person and the store manager have explained to the customer at the register for the 30th time that they have to buy three 10 oz cans and not two 15 oz cans to get the sales price … which is clearly explained in the store flier … I need to pray for patience.
And God has some pretty interesting ways of answering our prayers, amen? I don’t know if God’s ever done anything like this to you, but He does this kind of thing to me … all the time. Really knocks me off my high horse. As I listen to the check out person and the store manager haggle with the customer, God reminds me what it feels like when I’m the person holding up the line … how I hope my sheepish grin and mumbled apologies let the people behind me know that I didn’t intend to hold up the line … more importantly, what a relief it is when the person behind me graciously smiles and says it’s okay … and I try to pass that grace on when I’m the next one in line whose being inconvenienced.
James would laugh at all of this. The people to whom James was writing were facing far greater problems than slow lines and traffic jams. They were experiencing challenges and difficulties on a number of fronts. In verses 1 through 6, James warns the wealthy church members to stop preying upon the poorer members and taking advantage of them. “Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. (v. 1). Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cry of the harvesters have reached the rears of the Almighty” (v.4).
There were those who suffered hardship at the hands of fellow Christians but almost all of them faced persecution from everyone around them. The Jews who didn’t believe in Jesus or accept Jesus’ messiahship threw the Christians out of their synagogues and communities. The Romans arrested them, confiscated their property, fed them to wild animals for their amusement, or used them as human torches to light up their garden parties.
In the face of all this, James advises them to be patient “until the Lord’s coming” (v. 7). For centuries, the people of Israel had cried out: “How long, O Lord? How long before the Messiah, the anointed Son of David, is going to free us from the tyranny of foreign powers?” Even as Jesus walked among the, they continued to cry out, “How long, O Lord?” Blinded by their impatience.
“Be patient, then, brothers, until then Lord’s coming” (v. 7). “When?” the persecuted church cries out. ‘How long, O Lord, before Christ will come again and deliver His people?” If He is coming, it better be sooner than later. The persecution is getting worse and we don’t know how much more we can stand. Have You forgotten us? How long, O Lord, will You hide Your face from us? How long will our enemies triumph over us?
The word that James uses for “patience” is “makrothumia.” “Makrothumia” is made up of two words: “makros” … which means “long” … and “thumis” … which means “temper.” “Patience” or “makrothuma” means to be “long-tempered” but is usually translated as “long suffering.” In the “Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, “makrothuma” describes a “quality of self-restraint in the face of provocation which does not hastily retaliate or punish; … it is the opposite of anger, and is associated with mercy.”
Bible scholar and commentator William Barclay compares it to “megalopsuchia” … which Aristotle defined as the refusal to tolerate any insult or injury. “To the Greeks,” says Barclay, “the big man was the man who went all out for vengeance. To the Christian, the big man is the man who, even when he can, refuses to do so.”
Jesus Christ is the perfect illustration of “makrothumia.” He was verbally and physically abused. He was spat one … falsely accused … beaten … and nailed to a cross. Not only did He suffer greatly and not retaliate, He asked God to forgive those who persecuted Him and did this to Him. “For this you were called,” wrote the Apostle Peter, “because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps” (1st Peter 2:21).
James uses the example of a farmer. A farmer has to be long-tempered or long-suffering as he “waits for the land to yield its valuable crop” (v. 7) … pointing out how patient he has to be as he waits for the autumn and springs rains (v. 7). In Palestine, there are basically two rainy seasons. In the Autumn, the farmers had to sow their seed on ground that had been dry for most of the year. The fields were brown and the soil was dry. Modern irrigation techniques were unknown, so the farmer had no choice but to depend upon the Autumn rains that came in October and November to water and soften the ground so that they could plow and plant.
James wants us to be like Palestinian farmers who work hard to get their fields ready … who have done all the work they can … committed their time, money, and labor into preparing the field … and then all we do is wait for nature to take it course. There is no promise that all our efforts will produce anything. All we can do is labor and plant in faith. No amount of coaxing, no amount of pleading or begging, can make the crop grow faster. We can’t dig up the seeds every hour to see if they’re growing. We can’t pull up the plants and give them a rousing and inspiring pep talk. We can’t pull on the leaves and stretch them out. All we can do is wait and have patience … makrothumia. We can do our part … in fact, we must do our part … but the rest is in God’s hands.
We must wait like that farmer. Jesus, the Autumn rain, has come. The soil has been prepared. The seed has been planted. We must now have patience … makrothumia … as we wait for Jesus to come like the Spring rains and produce a harvest of souls.
So be patient, says James. It will be worth it. The latter rain … the Spring rains … are about to fall. The harvest is drawing near. This world is not our home … we are only passing through. Our reward is not to be found in this world but the next … the one that is coming. He who endures to the end shall be saved. The Greek word that James uses is “hupomeno,” which means “steadfast endurance.” Long-suffering … makrothumia … describes the attitude of a person under pressure. Endurance … “hupomeno” … describes a person’s response to those circumstances. When you put those two ideas together … makrothumia and hupomeno … long-suffering and endurance … James is urging us to persevere, to put up with suffering, even if it’s for an excruciatingly long time. And it takes us back to James opening premise: “Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trails, because you know that the testing of your faith produces “hupomeno” … endurance … and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing” (James 1:2-4).
In verse 7, James calls us to follow the example of the farmer. He follows that up in verse 8 by asking us to be patient … to stand firm … and then in verse 9 he commands us not to “grumble against each other.” Hummm …. What do we do when we get impatient? When frustration and fear set in? We get snarky, don’t we? We lash out. We sow our fear and our frustration in those around us like a farmer sows seeds. We want everyone to feel as frustrated and pent up as we do. Or we blow of steam hoping it will make us feel better … but it does not. In fact, you still feel miserable and so does everyone else around you.
James says to watch out for that. Don’t do it. But how? Well, says James, look to the solution and not at the problem. In verses 8 and 9, he mentions Jesus three times. James wants us to lift our eyes from our current problems … our current suffering … and look to the solution … Jesus Christ. He wants us to focus our eyes on Him and not on the crazy, imperfect people around us. He wants us to remember that our Lord and Savior is coming … could come at any minute … and do you want Him to come and find you locked in petty squabbles or ready and waiting for Him to come and take his bride home with Him? “The Judge” … capital “J” … “is standing at the door!” I want you to picture that right now. Jesus is standing just outside the door ready to step into this church. He could step through that door back there at any minute. Or picture it another way. Jesus is standing on the other side of the door into His house … into Heaven … and He’s waiting for us to step through it at any moment. “The sinner is only a heart beat away from the Judge,” says seminary Professor Simon Kristemacher. “For when death strikes, the grumbler enters the presence of God, who will judge him for every idle word he has spoken. Everyone who passes through the portals of death,” says Kirstemacher, “meets the Judge on the other side.
James then tells us to follow the example of the prophets. “As you know,” says James, “we considered blessed those who have persevered.” And then he mentions Job. Now, we’ve all heard the saying: “He or she has the patience of Job.” What do you picture when James describes the patience of the prophets or Job in the face or the depth of their suffering? Job sitting peacefully atop his dung pile? Quietly singing hymns as he scrapes his painful boils with a sharp rock? Resigned to his suffering and fate?
If that’s what you picture, you’ve never read the Book of Job. I mean, he’s kind of that way in the beginning. When his wife tells him to curse God and die, he calmly replies: “Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” (Job 2:10). As time goes on, however, he becomes more and more frustrated. He expresses anger … even sarcasm: “Does it please you [O God] to oppress me, to spurn the work of Your hands while you smile on the schemes of the wicked?” (Job 10:3). He experiences despair: “My spirit is broken, my days are cut short, the grave awaits me” (Job 17:1). He experiences frustration: “He” … meaning God … “throws me in the mud, and I am reduced to ashes. I cry out to you, O God, but you do not answer; I stand up, but you merely look at me” (Job 30:19-20. He experiences anger, challenging God to come down and confront him or explain Himself: “I sign my defense – let the Almighty answer me; let my accuser put His indictment in writing” (Job 31:35).
He accuses God of being unfair. “As surely as God lives, who had denied me justice, the Almighty, who has made me taste the bitterness of my soul” (Job 27:1). “The know that God has wronged me and drawn His net around me. Though I cry, ‘I’ve been wronged,’ I get no response; though I call for help, there is no justice” (Job 19:6-7).
Remember James’ example of the farmer? The farmer can only do so much … the rest is up to God. He can stand in the middle of his field and plead with the clouds to make it rain … but the rain will come when God says so … period! He can jump up and shake his fist at the heavens but the crops … if there are any … will be ready to be harvested when God says. In the end, what choice does the farmer have but to wait and depend upon God.
And the same is true of Job … and the same is true of us. Job was “makrothumia” … patient … Job was “hupomeno” … he endured because he had no other choice. Until God intervened in his situation, he could rant and scream and threaten and cry and plead all he wanted but it wouldn’t change a thing or end his suffering one second sooner. As we wait for the late rain … as we wait for Jesus’ second coming … we can scream, shout, weep, pray, cry … but He will come in His time … when the time is right. Job didn’t curse God but when God comes, O Boy! He restores everything that Job lost and then some. Like Jacob, Job discovered that you can wrestle with God but you’ll end up with a limp, amen?
Job persevered, he endured because he had no choice. Jeremiah wanted to quit, but had no other choice. “O Lord, You deceived me, and I was deceived; You over-powered me and prevailed. I am ridiculed all day long, everyone mocks me. Whenever I speak, I cry out proclaiming violence and destruction; so the word of the Lord has brought me insult and reproach all day long. But if I say, ‘I will not mention Him or speak any more in His name,’ His word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones” (Jeremiah 20:7-9).
Now … I’ve said that when it comes to suffering and patience, we don’t have a choice. That’s not actually true. We actually do have a choice. We can become “impatient” … unwilling to wait … unwilling to suffer any longer … and we make a tragic mistake when we do that … when we resolve to take matters into our own hands and attempt to resolve our suffering.
King Saul is a tragic example of this. In 1st Samuel 13, the Israelites are poised for battle but they don’t want to go to war without sacrificing and worshipping God first. That was the Prophet Samuel’s job. But Samuel wasn’t there. He said that he would come in seven days, but seven days had come and gone with no sign or word from the prophet. Fear began to take hold of the troops. If they waited too long the Philistines had time to enlarge their army and possibly gain the advantage by attacking first. So … Saul becomes impatient and decides to take matters into his own hands. He orders a bull to be slaughtered and set on fire. But wouldn’t you know it … as soon as the wood catches on fire and gets going really good, who should show up? Good Ol’ Samuel. “What have you done?! You Acted foolishly. You have not kept the command the Lord God gave you;” … and here’s the sad part … “if you had [God] would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But now your kingdom will not endure” (1st Samuel 13:11,13-14). Because of Saul’s impatience, he lost his legacy.
When Abram was 90 years old, God came to him in a vision and promised Abram an heir: “Look at the heavens,” God commanded Abram. “Count the stars, if indeed you can count them. So shall your offspring be” (Genesis 15:5). So Abram and Sarai wait … and wait … and wait. With each passing day their concerns grow. So … they become impatient and decide to take matters into their own hands. Sarai suggests that Abram sleep with her maid-servant, Hagar … who gets pregnant and has a son named “Ishmael.”
How did their plan work out? Well … not too good for Abram, Sarai, and Hagar. The two women fought constantly. Abram had no peace and agrees to drive Hagar from the camp where she gives birth to Ishmael … whom the angel of the Lord said would grow up to become “a wild donkey of a man” (Genesis 16:12) … whose hand would be against everyone and whom every one would be against … “and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers” (v. 12) … and we are still suffering from the effects of Abram’s and Sarai’s impatience today as the Jews claim their heritage comes from Isaac and the Muslims from Ishmael … and, well, God’s word has come true.
It is always a bad idea to try to accomplish God’s plan in your own way and by your own timing. God’s plans come complete with His methods and His timing, and when we get impatient and try to tinker with that … well, everything gets all messed up.
Let’s go back to James’ farming example one last time. In several of his letters, the Apostle Paul describes “patience” … “long-temper” or “long-suffering” … as a “fruit of the Spirit” … which means that patience is not a personal virtue … for, by nature, we are self-centered and impatient. We want what we want when we want it … we want it all and we want it now. But “patience” is a “fruit” of the Spirit … not a “gift.” It starts out as a little seed. It needs care and attention. It needs time to grow and mature.
The patience that James is proposing is the patience given to us by the Holy Spirit. It is patience deeply rooted in faith. It is working, laboring towards a goal when you aren’t sure what the goal is, what it will look like, or even what it means for “me.”
And when we keep our focus on Jesus … when we foster the patience that God has planted in us … when we endure to the end with God’s help … we reap our salvation, which is a gift from God, won through His Son, Jesus Christ.
We have a God who is truly merciful and compassionate towards us. The word that James uses for “compassionate” is a special and unique one. It’s “polusplangos” and is only used in verse 12 and nowhere else in the New Testament. It literally means the “churning of your internal organs.” It means that our suffering makes God sick to His stomach.
Our God cares about us and what we’re going through. He cares so much that He sent His one and only Son to save us and forgive us and to show us God’s mercy. He cares so much that He is with us in our suffering and problems, just like He was with Job and the prophets in their suffering. And like Job and the prophets, He will give us the patience we need to endure until the end if we put our faith and trust in Him and in His timing.
James is attempting to focus our eyes not on our problems or challenges, but on God … Who cares … Who is merciful … Who is compassionate. He also wants us to focus our eyes on Jesus’ second coming. Jesus’ return is a good thing for us Christians. It means our salvation and vindication. It means the end of suffering, persecution, stress, pain, heartache, and loss. It means a new Heaven and a new earth. It means a new body and a new hope. It means reunion with our departed loved ones. It means encouragement to face the day. It means that something better is coming … SO BE PATIENT! “Establish your heart, for the coming of the Lord is at hand” (v. 8).
Because we are so impatient by nature, I am thankful for the sacrament of Communion to remind us of this truth …
