Character-building Patience

The findings of a 2006 survey of more than 1,000 adults revealed that most people take an average of 17 minutes to lose their patience while waiting in line. Also, most people lose their patience in only 9 minutes while on hold on the phone. I can certainly sympathise. More than once recently I have wrestled with complicated call centre options and given up in disgust.

The “patience” of an Old Testament character called Job was proverbial from early times (James 5:11). However, any serious reader of the Book of Job will soon discover that the hero was anything but patient in the modern sense of the word. He bewailed his wretched state and repeatedly took God to task for allowing it to happen. In other words, he was human. We can all identify with the strength of his feelings. Yet he is rightly credited with patience, but of a different order, as we shall see later.

James in his fifth chapter was addressing Christians suffering gross persecution. Faced with persistent discrimination and injustice, they were tempted to give up following Christ. After promising so much at the start, submitting to the gospel seemed to be leading them nowhere. How could James possibly comfort them and stiffen their resolve? He writes that those who persecute and exploit them will eventually come to rue the day. But how will they go on in the meantime?

“Be patient, therefore, brothers,” urges James, “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” (James 5:7-8 ESV).

“Be patient”? “Give up” would seem to be a more appropriate reaction. But what James advises is not passive fatalism, but an active, productive and wholesome endurance.

First, we are to be patient because there is a reward in view and personal development to be gained on the journey. We wait patiently, and that suggests waiting for something. That something is clearly the second coming in glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. But in waiting we also grow. The farmer works patiently for a harvest; with a harvest, he and his dependents can emerge from the winter fit and well. In the same way, the Christian uses his or her best endeavours in the midst of trials, aiming for a spiritual harvest of maturity and completeness.

Second, patience is rooted in dependable promise. The “early and late rains” are promised in the Bible and are a standard Old Testament image of God's promised faithfulness (Deuteronomy 11:13-14). In exactly the same way, God has given Christians a promise: Christ’s return. It isn’t just a pipe dream or a happy ending to a fairy tale; it’s a promise backed up by Christ’s resurrection, which has already happened. Isn’t that a spur to endurance?

Third, patience influences our behaviour patterns. We live and react differently when exercising patience. We’ll look at one practical outworking of this shortly. “Establish your hearts” is the watchword in verse 8. The heart is the seat of courage and resolve. Exercising Christian patience, we do the courageous and resolute thing rather than always cynically taking the line of least resistance.

Finally, the Lord’s coming is at hand. The way it is put in the original language, it’s as good as here already. The moral is: don't give up now!

James goes on to give one practical piece of advice and an example to encourage us. The practical advice is, “Do not grumble against one another”. This is profoundly wise. One danger with communities under stress is that individuals start turning on each other. This simply adds to the pressures. Patience is a community thing!

The examples to inspire us are the Old Testament prophets and ... Job. Job may have bemoaned his fate in plaintive terms, but he never short-circuited his misery by following his wife’s misguided advice to “Curse God and die”! As a result he became an inspiration, a byword for successful endurance.

A writer comments, “Suffering enters the believer’s life; perseverance is the believer’s response; blessing comes from the Lord, who is full of compassion and mercy. ... All of this demonstrates the character of the Lord, which is finally what James wants his readers to know with confidence.”

May God grant us this year a patience from God that just keeps us going confidently on our way, whatever happens!