James 5:7-11
When we don’t get what we want and life gets hard for us, we are not called to fight to get our own way; rather, we are commanded by God to be patient in our sufferings.
- We must be patient in our suffering.
“So, James says, when it comes to the Lord’s coming and the injustice that surrounds you, like a farmer, trust God with what you cannot control while honoring God with what you can control.” —David Platt
“James’s readers will have the power to be patient precisely because the cause of their suffering will most certainly be thoroughly dealt with.” —Sam Allberry
“We commonly associate patience with lying down. We think of it as the angel that guards the couch of the invalid. Yet there is a patience that I believe to be harder—the patience that can run. To lie down in the time of grief, to be quiet under the stroke of adverse fortune, implies a great strength; but I know of something that implies a strength greater still: it is the power to work under stress; to have a great weight at your heart and still run; to have a deep anguish in your spirit and still perform the daily tasks. It is a Christ-like thing! The hardest thing is that most of us are called to exercise our patience, not in the sickbed but in the street.” To wait is hard, to do it with ‘good courage’ is harder!”—George Matheson (Scottish theologian and preacher, blind at 20)
- We must be positive in our suffering.
“The nearness of the eschatological day is not just an impetus to look forward to the judgment of sinners… but it is also a warning to examine one’s behavior so that when the one whose footsteps are nearing finally knocks on the door, one may be prepared to open…. The coming Lord is also the judge of the Christian.” –Peter Davids
- We must persevere in our suffering.
“The smile of God rests upon such a life.” – Kent Hughes