The Patience of Job

The patience of Job has long been proverbial — "You must have the patience of Job to cope with that situation". The saying goes back at least 500 years in our language!

Job, you may remember, is the (human) hero of the Bible book of the same name. Blighted with loss and disease as the result of a fiendish test by Satan, he refuses to curse God for his situation. After a series of frustrating conversations with well-meaning but unhelpful friends, Job has his health and wealth restored by God.

"The patience of Job." The expression comes from the King James Version translation of James 5:10 and 11 — 

"Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience. Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy."

Yet Job under testing is anything but "patient" in the way we understand it today! He bemoans the fact that he was ever born. He berates God for not letting him have his day in court so he can plead his innocence. So what kind of patience is really in view?

Recently in the Our Daily Bread notes I found an article by Joe Stowell which isn't about Job, yet perfectly illustrates the Bible concept of patience — or "endurance" as we would put it today. 

As a lad, Stowell had a punchball that sprang back upright when hit. However hard he hit it, he could not make it stay down. "The secret? There was a lead weight in the bottom that always kept it upright. Sailboats operate by the same principle. The lead weights in their keels provide the ballast to keep them balanced and upright in strong winds."

Stowell comments,

"It’s like that in the life of a believer in Christ. Our power to survive challenges resides not in us but with God, who dwells within us. We’re not exempt from the punches that life throws at us nor from the storms that inevitably threaten our stability. But with full confidence in His power to sustain us, we can say with Paul, 

'We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed (2 Corinthians 4:8-9)'."

God's sufficient grace, and His strength which is made perfect in our weakness, can be the ballast for our souls. Our plea is that the Lord Jesus Christ, who was hounded even to His death, rose again with power and now prepares a future reward and glory for all who believe in Him. That is the real story of Christian endurance and its outcome! Remember, as the article reminds us, 

"The power of God within you is greater than the pressure of troubles around you."

Indicators

It must surely come as a relief to know that you can measure "how you are doing" in the Christian life the way God sees it. Other people’s opinion is not always a good indicator. They can tell you that you are doing fine simply to please you. Or they can be brutally critical out of mere prejudice or ignorance. In any case it is not the Christian's primary job to keep other people happy - though your good and godly conduct should indeed bring joy to others.

We long for a test, an indicator, that is totally unbiased. It should act in the same way as lichens that indicate the quality of the air we breathe. A website called air-quality.org.uk recently put it this way:

"Lichens are widely used as environmental indicators or bio-indicators. If air is very badly polluted with sulphur dioxide there may be no lichens present, just green algae may be found. If the air is clean, shrubby, hairy and leafy lichens become abundant."

Take heart! There are tell-tale pointers to the state of your Christian life that are as sure and reliable as the lichen. They are found in the Bible. Particularly I have noticed them lately in the first letter of John. You may know that as well as the gospel bearing his name John wrote three letters which come near the end of the New Testament of our Bibles. He may also be responsible for the Book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible.

First John is full of helpful checklists by which you can gauge where you stand. Here are those I have picked out:

Four tests of true fellowship, 1 John 1:1 to 2:17
    • Affirming a proper view of Christ, 1:1-4
    • Affirming sin’s reality, 1:5-2:2
    • Obedience to God’s commands, 2:3-6
    • Love of the brethren, 2:7-17

Three characteristics of Antichrists, 2:19, 22-23, 26
    • they depart from the faithful, 19
    • they deny the faith, 22-23
    • they try to deceive the faithful, 26

 Two characteristics of true Christians, 2:20,21,27
    • the Holy Spirit guards them from error, 21
    • the Holy Spirit guides them into all knowledge, 20 and 27 

Five features of the believer’s hope, 2:18-3:3

• the believer abides in Christ, equivalent to finally persevering, 2:28
• the believer can’t help being righteous, 2:29
• Christians have a nature alien to the unsaved, 3:1
• God loves the believer so as to make him or her His child; we shall be like Him, 3:2
•  the Christian is purifying him- or herself, 3:3

Four reasons why true Christians cannot habitually practise sin, 1 John 3:4-10
    • Sin is incompatible with the law of God, 3:4
    • It is incompatible with the work of Christ, 3:5
    • Christ came to destroy the works of the arch-sinner, Satan, 3:8
    • It is incompatible with the ministry of the Holy Spirit, 3:9

    Three benefits of love, 3:11-24
    • Assurance of salvation, 3:14
    • Answered prayer, 3:22
    • The abiding presence and empowering of the Holy Spirit, 3:23-24   
 
Two tests of true teachers, 4:1-6 (for end of chapter 3 see next list)
    They affirm that Jesus is God incarnate come in human flesh, 4:2
    • They speak God’s word, following apostolic doctrine, 4:5-6

Five reasons why Christians love, 4:7-21
    • Because God is the essence of love, 4:7-8
    • To follow the supreme example of God’s sacrificial love in sending his Son for us, 4:9-11
    • Because love is the heart of Christian witness, 4:12
    • Because love is the Christian’s assurance, 4:13-16
    • Because love is the Christian’s confidence in judgment, 4:17-18

Five characteristics of overcomers, 5:1-5
    • Saving faith, 5:1
    • Love, 5:1
    • Obedience, 5:2-3
    • Belief in Jesus, 5:4
    • Dedication of one’s life to Him, 5:5

Five certainties, 5:13-21
    • Assurance of eternal life, 5:13
    • Answered prayer, 5:14-17
    • Victory over sin and Satan, 5:18
    • That Christians belong to God, 5:19
    • That Jesus Christ is the true God, 5:20

In the face of the unsettling influence of false teachers, John wanted his readers to be happy, holy and secure. They could only be that if three things were working together in their lives. They needed to be sound in the basics of the faith, obedient towards Jesus’ commands and loving towards God and their fellow believers.

Could this checklist help you to gauge where you stand?