Why We Need to be Patient

 If there is one quality that is hard for me to attain it is patience. We know that it is an important attribute for the Christian because it is listed as one of the fruits of the Spirit as listed in Galatians 5:22. Yet patience is hard and often elusive. Reading in James this morning I find patience back in the conversation, using the example of the farmer, James exhorts us to be patient.

James 5:7-8
Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains.  You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.

How long must I be patient? Haven’t we all asked that question? James answers by saying we must be patient “until the coming of the Lord.” In his use of a farmer as our example we can find the reason for being patient. The work of farming is not easy. If a farmer wants to reap a good harvest then he must do many things in the process of farming. Ground must be plowed, seeds sowed, and weeds must be kept out of the fields if the farmer wants to harvest a valuable crop. And the result of the Christian life is that we become the “precious fruit of the earth.”

But there is an important aspect of farming that we cannot forget. While we have work to do in this process just as the farmer does, the farmer is dependent upon God to provide the sun and the rain, which nourish and grow the crops.

God is providing the same things in our lives as well. Our part is to plow up the fields of our lives and work them so that seed of faith the Holy Spirit plants in us can grow. We do this by reading His Word, by spending time in fellowship with God through prayer, and by fellowship with others Christians, who encourage us when we need it and speak truth to us when we need that as well.

But God provides the sun and the rain. And it is in these rainy times, times when it seems as if the light of the sun has forever disappeared behind the rain clouds, that we need patience. God uses our trials and our tribulations to grow our patience.

Galatians 6:9 says “let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”

God never relinquishes control of the earth and we are always under His watchful eye. Satan is our enemy and he will do everything in his power to bring impatience into our hearts and in that we can become bitter and angry. This is why James goes on in verse 9 of chapter 5 to warn us to “not grumble against one another…” If Satan can get us to fight against each other then the work of the church is hindered. If the work of the church is hindered, then our growth as individuals will be hindered as well.

The Book of Job is the best Biblical story about endurance and faith. It explains how through the troubles of life, even the works of the devil, God grows us and makes us like His Son, Jesus. Job lost almost every thing he had, but in the end God blessed Him even greater than before.

The lesson is this; we have a greater hope that in the end of our days on this earth we shall be blessed beyond compare. Our hope is in the return of Christ. And James says, “The coming of the Lord is at hand.”

James says, “Be patient.” He says, “Establish your hearts.” Life is hard, but we have a sure hope in Christ. When the world seems to be coming down upon you say what Job said, “Though he slay me, I will hope in him; yet I will argue my ways to his face.” (Job 13:15). As Christians we can “argue” with God through prayer and by the Blood of Christ in which we are made righteous. We will lose any argument with God that attempts to justify ourselves, but we know we have a wonderful advocate who sits at God’s right hand who presents us as pure and intercedes for us. This is good news. This is why we can be patient.

Yes this life will be hard. Jesus does not promise an easy life to those who follow Him. Actually He promises trouble. But we can be patient in Him.

I leave you as I often do with a scripture reading. If you are Christ’s then you can lay hold of this truth as you wait upon the return of Christ.

Job 23:8-10
 “Behold, I go forward, but he is not there, and backward, but I do not perceive him;  on the left hand when he is working, I do not behold him; he turns to the right hand, but I do not see him.  But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold.

Wait on Him my friend. If you do you shall come out as gold.