We live in a world that’s full of injustice, a world where the wicked prosper, where people take advantage of each other and get away with it, a world where crime often does pay, at least in the short term. The first six verses of chapter five put this problem into a longer-term perspective. James addresses the rich and powerful who are guilty of oppressing others and says to them: “Your riches have rotted, and your clothes are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you, and it will eat your flesh like fire.” Things will not always be as they are now. A day is coming when God will make things right. This world is not going to continue forever in this abnormal state.
But, in the meantime, how are God’s people to live with this tension, especially when they experience suffering and see wicked, violent people living easy, apparently carefree lives? How are we to live when people take advantage of us and get away with it, or when people harm us and are never called to account for their crimes? This has often been a struggle for God’s people. In Psalm 73, the psalmist says this problem caused such distress for him that he nearly fell away, until God enabled to see things in a longer-term perspective. Psalm 37 talks at length about how to deal with the frustration and distress that sometimes threaten to overwhelm us.
The folk song, “Farther Along,” is about the same thing: “Tempted and tried we’re oft’ made to wonder, why it should be thus all the day long; while there are others living about us never molested though in the wrong.” Here is what bothers the author of Psalm 73: “Such are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches. All in vain I have kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. For all day long I have been plagued, and am punished every morning” (vv. 12-14). What’s the point of purifying our lives and living in obedience, when we seem to suffer more than others? Are we following the Lord in vain? This is the problem James addresses in verses 7-11, how to live in the present, with the frustration and outrage that naturally arise from our experiences in this fallen world. He expands on this, but his basic answer is: wait patiently for the Lord’s coming. A better world is on the way; as Christians, our calling is to wait for it. We’re going to look at three things James gives us in this passage, which can help us wait patiently.
The first thing is this: we need to accept that the remedy is outside our control. Repairing the injustice of this world is simply beyond us; we may be able to bring a measure of justice into specific situations, and it’s right to do so, but the real remedy is beyond our power. Notice that James’ whole focus here is on the coming of the Lord. “Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord” (v. 7). “Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near” (v. 8). “See, the Judge is standing at the doors!” (v. 9).
He reinforces what he’s saying with the example of a farmer: “Meanwhile, friends, wait patiently for the Master’s Arrival. You see farmers do this all the time, waiting for their valuable crops to mature, patiently letting the rain do its slow but sure work. Be patient like that. Stay steady and strong. The Master could arrive at any time” (The Message). A farmer is a good example of waiting on the Lord’s return, because it’s not that a farmer just sits around and waits. Waiting on the Lord doesn’t mean doing nothing at all. A farmer plows the ground, fertilizes, and plants the right seeds. He does what he’s able to do and then waits, realizing that the outcome is dependent on things that are beyond his control. I’ve read the Little House on the Prairie series, by Laura Ingalls Wilder, to each of the kids, and one thing that’s clear in those books is that good crops are dependent on factors that are beyond us. Laura’s father is a farmer, and he works hard year after year. But no matter how hard he works, no matter how much he learns about farming, things keep happening that undermine his profits: lack of rain, plagues of insects, grass fires. He works hard, but he never manages to get ahead. The point is that God may call us to address situations of injustice in this world, but we’re not responsible for the outcome; we don’t have the power to make things right. We do what we can, and we wait patiently on the Lord’s coming.
The second thing is: focus on living an obedient life in the present: “Beloved, do not grumble against one another, so that you may not be judged.” The temptation, when we’re in difficulties, is to turn on one another, to start backbiting and tearing each other down. Rather than supporting each other, we end up destroying each other, and we also destroy ourselves by our persistent disobedience. Knowing that the Lord is coming motivates us to live in obedience in the present. Notice how James puts these two things together: “Beloved, do not grumble against one another, so that you may not be judged. See, the Judge is standing at the doors!”
When I was a young Christian, I saw another believer throw some trash on the ground with the words, “everything is going to be burned up anyway.” His point was that, since we look forward to a new heaven and a new earth, we can live carelessly in this present world. That future world is the only one that really matters. Our future hope doesn’t trivialize life in the present; it motivates us to live an obedient life. Listen to what John says in his first letter: “Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure” (3:2-3). A strong awareness of our future hope motivates us to purify our lives in the present. Peter says the same thing: “Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, what sort of persons ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness” (2 Peter 3:11).
A proper sense of our future hope doesn’t cause us to live in the future; it enables us to encounter God in the present. The point is not to figure out all the details of how God is going to do things in the future; that’s the silliness of most of what I hear on Christian radio about the end times and prophesy. The point is to know that the future is in the hands of our good, gracious God; we can trust Him with it. We can’t see clearly what He’s doing in our own lives most of the time, let alone what He’s doing in the Middle East. Listen to these wise words from an 18th Century Jesuit: “It is like the right side of a beautiful tapestry being worked stitch by stitch on the reverse side. Neither the stitches nor the needle are visible, but, one by one, those stitches make a magnificent pattern that only becomes apparent when the work is completed and the right side exposed to the light of day; although while it is in progress there is no sign of its beauty and wonder” (Jean-Pierre De Caussade, The Sacrament of the Present Moment, trans. by Kitty Muggeridge, pp. 53-54). Trust God to work out all the details in the future; our calling is to focus on walking with Him in obedience in the present.
But we’re not the first ones to walk this path. We’re not on our own, trying to find our way through this life. The third thing is this: be encouraged by the example of those who’ve preceded us in the life of faith. “As an example of suffering and patience, beloved, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.” We’re surrounded by this “great cloud of witnesses,” those who have endured difficulties in the Lord’s name and persevered to the end. We’re united with them in the same Church, and one day we will be present with them before the throne of God, worshiping Him face to face.
James says, “Indeed we call blessed those who showed endurance.” Those who persevere are blessed; this looks back to what he said in chapter one: “Blessed is anyone who endures temptation. Such a one has stood the test and will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.” We understand this because God has told us it’s true, but by looking at those who’ve gone before us we can see that it’s true, we can see it demonstrated in a very tangible way. The author of Hebrews tells his readers: “Remember your leaders, those who spoke the word of God to you; consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (13:7-8). These are leaders who preached God’s Word to them and now have died; it may be that some of them have died as martyrs. In any case, they persevered to the end and died as examples of faithfulness. So he says, “consider the outcome of their way of life.” The Hebrew Christians were discouraged by persecution and were on the verge of turning away, so the author of this letter wants to remind them that it’s worth it to keep going.
James points to the example of Job: “You’ve heard, of course, of Job’s staying power, and you know how God brought it all together for him at the end. That’s because God cares, cares right down to the last detail” (The Message). Job endured horrible suffering, and in the midst of it everything was dark. He couldn’t perceive the Lord’s presence and it seemed that God had forsaken him. He cried out in anguish and grief, but he didn’t turn away; he persevered in faith, and lived to experience God’s goodness and mercy. Those who persevere don’t get to the end of their lives and say, “I wish I’d done things differently; I wish I’d turned away from the faith, so I’d have more time to do the things I wanted to do.” It’s those who turn away who have regrets in the end. “We consider blessed those who have persevered.”
All this points to what James says at the end of verse eleven: “the Lord is compassionate and merciful.” The world is disordered at present, but it will not always be so. Because God is full of compassion and mercy, we can wait in patience on His time. We can trust in Him to fulfil His purposes wisely. In verse eight, James says “Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near.” How do we strengthen our hearts? 1) By reminding ourselves that, though fixing this world is beyond our control, it’s not beyond His. Our compassionate and merciful God has the future in His hands, and He has the power and wisdom to make everything right in the end: “the coming of the Lord is near.” 2) By walking with God in the present, cultivating a life of obedience, resisting the temptation to give in to a bitter, complaining spirit, refusing to engage in malicious gossip. Giving in to this temptation will weaken our hearts; cultivating obedience in the light of the Lord’s nearness will strengthen our hearts. 3) Cultivate an awareness of the communion of saints. Get to know some of these people; read their biographies; read about them in scripture; learn from their examples. We’re part of a great body, many of whom are already safe in God’s presence. We’re surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, which means that we’re not on our own. Remembering these things will strengthen our hearts and help us wait patiently for His coming.
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