“The Call To Patience” (Part 3)

This week we are examining James 5:7-12 and seeing the challenge to a life that displays biblical patience. On Monday we saw the need for patience as we await the Lord’s return, and yesterday we looked at being patient with other believers. Now we consider the final arena in which patience is a challenge…

Patience in Hardships- (vv.11-12)

We count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful. But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath; but your yes is to be yes, and your no, no, so that you may not fall under judgment. (vv.11-12)

The apostle, having called us to practice because of the Lord’s return and after the model of the prophets, now reminds us of the classic example of patience in suffering—Job. He says, “We count them blessed who endured”—but do we? We would if we could “see the outcome of the Lord’s dealings—full of compassion and mercy.” Look at Job. He suffered materially, physically, emotionally, yet his faith endured. Hear it in his own words:

• Job 1:21- “He said, ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked I shall return there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD.’”
• Job 2:10- “But he said to her, ‘You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?’ In all this Job did not sin with his lips.”
• Job 13:15- “Though He slay me, I will hope in Him.”
• Job 16:19- “Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven, And my advocate is on high.”

Job had faith (23:10), learned humility (42:6), and saw the end of the Lord (42:7ff), and out of his experience offers us this counsel—be patient in suffering. All things work together for good because God is in control, even when the world seems out of control. James 1 reminds us that the testing of our faith produces patience, and in those experiences we learn a quiet confidence in the God who is able. Remember—Job did not know of the behind-the-scenes workings any more than we do, he just knew God and utterly trusted Him.

In the final verse of this passage (v.12), we see the practical implications of all of this. The byproduct of being patient in suffering is that when we become faithful to God we will be faithful to men as well. Confident trust in God builds the kind of people in whom others can be confident.

The life that endures through trust in God is a life purified to integrity—producing a basic honesty of life that is evidence of a heart given over to God. The trust in God that we learn in patient sufferings is the result of a heart given over to God, and we can live with that.

It is a heart that can set aside manipulation, and live with a quiet confidence in the God who sustains us in trials and keeps us in all the circumstances of life.