PATIENCE IN THE FACE OF SUFFERING
James 5:7-20
“Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near.”
In pointing to how farmers have to wait for the land to yield its crop, James helps us to see that everything has its time. You cannot rush the fullness of time for a plant to yield its fruit. “You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near,” James says.
For many Christians, however, we are not waiting in plenty; many of us are waiting in suffering and pain. In fact, very often the people who are actively waiting are the people who are in need of relief. James tells us that those who suffer also are to exercise patience in the face of suffering. Even those who are known in Scripture to be God’s servants have suffered but James assures us that the Lord is “full of compassion and mercy.”
God has established the church for all Christians so that we are never alone in our suffering and pain. In the body there will be, at any one time, those who are in trouble, those who are happy, those who are sick, those who are in spiritual trouble. We are never alone and never to think that what we are going through is all that is in store for us. We can all share in joy and in suffering, in plenty and in want.
The church is full of people who can pray for us with the power and authority of Elijah because all of us are righteous in the sight of God because of the blood of our Lord. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective, James tells us.
Thus God, in his compassion and mercy, have not left us to our own devices while plying us with calls to be patient. The church is God’s vehicle of compassion and mercy and we should draw strength, comfort and help from it.
“Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord.”