Mature Disciples Are Patient

A Study in the Book of James

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“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.”  

James 5:7

When I came to this assignment in James I faced it with dread. In fact, I thought I might even skip it. The reason being, that I am not the most patient person at times. 

I’m not as patient with problems or people as the Lord would have me to be. And although I do need to improve in that area of my life, I realize that in this verse James isn’t talking about our impatience with life and each other. He is talking about our impatience with God. Wait a minute, who are we to be impatient with God? Exactly my thought!

James gives us two illustrations. First, he uses the Husbandman (a farmer) and the fruit. The husbandman had to wait patiently until the precious fruit was ripe unto the harvest. This took my mind back many years to when our son, Dallas, was a little boy and was his Papa’s assistant gardener. Dallas had this thing about pulling the onions growing in the garden while the tops were still green and the onion bulbs still young. He would get so impatient that he would pull them before they were ready, and you could see the disappointment on his face when there was nothing but a tiny, immature bulb that appeared out of the soft dirt. However, when his patience prevailed and he would extract a full-grown white onion out of the ground, he would be ecstatic. His patience was rewarded! 

It’s easy for us to get impatient with God when we look at the lawlessness, violence, perversion, and total wickedness in high places (world and government leadership). We want justice. We want God to punish the sin that has affected every family on earth. We want God to stop the murder of unborn babies. We want God to stop the trafficking of illegal (and legal) drugs that are slowly killing our bright and beautiful children! We want God to give us the magic answer to the age-old question, “Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?”  In reality, there is no simple, magic answer. 

We must remain patient with God! He is sovereign and wise. He has the times in His hands. His eye is on the harvest, and surely the precious fruit (His faithful people) will soon be ready to reap. 

“Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.” James 5:8

We will get to the second illustration next week.

Read James 5:7-11