BE PATIENT LIKE THE FARMER – JAMES 5:7-8

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Are you a patient person – both on the outside and on the inside? Do you mind standing in long lines? Are you unperturbed when listening to long commercials on your TV or radio, or long, automated ads on the telephone? Are you content when put on hold for an undetermined amount of time? If your honest answer is “yes”, you are, by far, an exception to the rule!

In 2006, a survey of more than 2000 adults revealed that most people take an average of 17 minutes to lose their patience when waiting in line. Also, most people lose their patience in only 9 minutes when on hold on the phone. Impatience is a common trait; wouldn’t you agree?

James has finished his verbal chastening of the selfish, unrighteous rich people, and is continuing where he left off in his address to the churches. We see the transition in verse 7, where James now calls his readers and listeners “brethren”. He is writing once again to his brothers and sisters in Christ.

I. THE EXHORTATION (vs. 7a)

He has been telling the wicked rich people what to do before they meet their Maker. Now he is telling his fellow believers what their attitude should be in their present circumstances in order to prepare to meet their Lord and Savior. He reiterates what he said in chapter 1, verse 12: “Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial, for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.” In this letter, James has brought to their minds many passages from the Old Testament, and I believe he is doing so again. One Old Testament passage of Scripture that closely parallels his words is Psalm 37. In verses 7-9 of Psalm 37, King David writes: “Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him; do not fret for him who prospers in his way, because of him who carries out wicked schemes.” Then David says in verse 9, “For evildoers will be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land.” This exhortation is repeated several times in Psalm 37. I encourage you to read the whole psalm to get the full effect of what David is saying there under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

James also gives this encouragement in verse 7 in order to protect his readers and listeners from their own selfish plans and boastful attitudes (James 4:13-17). Some of them have been setting up their own timetable for what they want to accomplish for themselves, and have been boasting about it to others.

When James uses the words “until the coming of the Lord”, he may be reminding himself of the Lord Jesus’ words to him and the other disciples: “Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:1-3). That’s a wonderful promise for us to cling to as well, in these troublesome times! The early church believed that Christ could come at any moment, and that was a source of joy and encouragement in their trials. Twenty centuries have passed, but Christ could still come at any moment. Are you excited about that possibility? It could become a reality at any moment!

II. THE EXAMPLE (vs. 7b)

James says, “take a good look at the farmer as an example of patience (long-suffering)”. The farmer has a lot of work to do, and he also must wait for things to happen in his fields and orchards. Plants take time to grow and fruit takes time to ripen. As his readers and listeners know, in Deuteronomy 11:13-14, God made a promise to the nation of Israel before they crossed the Jordan River and entered the promised land. “And it shall come about, if you listen obediently to my commandments which I am commanding you today, to love the Lord your God and serve Him with all your heart and all your soul, that He will give the rain for your land in its season, the early and late rain . . . “. In Israel, the early rain, or autumn rain, comes in October and November, after the ground has been prepared and the seed has been sown. This rain enables the seed to germinate, produce sprouts, and grow to almost full height. The late rain, or spring rain, comes in March or April, when the buds have formed, and enables the grain to mature for the harvest. It’s important that the farmer follows this timetable set forth by God if he wants an abundant harvest. There is a time of patiently waiting for the autumn rain to arrive, for the spring rain to arrive, and for the harvesting to begin, but the farmer is kept busy preparing and repairing the equipment and the barns, and getting the laborers ready for the coming harvest. The time goes by quickly because the farmer is committed to his tasks and excited about the harvest to come.

III. THE EXHORTATION (verse 7b)

James encourages his readers and listeners to have the same attitude of perseverance and expectancy as the farmer that he has just described. There are, and have been, times in our lives that have tested our patience and posed a threat to our devotion to God and service for Him. There have also been times when we have wanted to get things done in a hurry just to get them over with! 19th-century preacher A.B. Simpson offers this advice: “Beloved, have you ever thought that someday you will not have anything to try you, or anyone to vex you again? There will be no opportunity in heaven to learn or to show the spirit of patience, forbearance, and longsuffering. If you are to practice these things, it must be now.” Each day offers countless opportunities to learn patience. Let’s not waste them.

A PERSPECTIVE FROM ABOVE

I’m going to carry this illustration of the farmer a step further because both the Old and New Testaments do so. It is a clear, powerful, and exciting realization and motivation for us today. I have already shared scriptures concerning the early and late rains as found in the old testament. But there is another image that James may be trying to convey, and this image may be coming to the minds of his readers and listeners. It is the image of God as the patient Farmer, the Cultivator, the Planter, the Nurturer, the Pruner, and the Harvester in the lives of His people.

King David says to God is Psalm 65:9-10: “Thou dost visit the earth and cause it to overflow; Thou dost greatly enrich it. The stream of God is full of water. Thou dost prepare their grain, for thus Thou dost prepare the earth. Thou dost water its furrows abundantly; Thou dost settle its ridges. Thou dost soften it with showers; Thou dost bless its growth.” He describes God as doing the whole work of the farmer.

Psalm 121 gets more personal. “Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is the shade at your right hand. The sun will not smite you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will protect you from every evil. He will keep your soul.” As the farmer takes good care of his land and crops, so the Lord takes constant care of His people.

A song that I sing to myself almost every day is the hymn, “God Will Take Care Of You”. Now I’m beginning to realize why this song is so special to me. The words. “God will take care of you” are repeated over and over again with different melodies. Singing the song brings a smile to my face and an assurance that those words are really true. It reminds me that when I was a little child, my mother used a similar method to calm me down and help take away the fear or the pain I was experiencing. She would hold me close, rock me in her arms, and say, “It’s OK, Tommy . . . It’s alright . . . I love you . . . You’re going to be alright . . . It’s gonna go away . . . You’re going to be OK.” Does that bring back memories? Those repeated words brought comfort to me, and helped take my mind off the problem. In a similar way, God tells us over and over again in the Scriptures that He loves us and will take care of us.

Isaiah 30:18 reflects the patience of a farmer. “Therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you. And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you.” “For the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah His delightful plant.” If God is waiting, that means He is also watching, and with joyful anticipation!

The Lord Jesus echoed the words in the psalms and prophets when He said, “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing. . . . by this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be My disciples” (John 15:5,8).

We believers in the Lord Jesus are God’s vineyard, God’s field. We are the fertile ground that God has prepared. He has planted the seed of His Word in us, watered it, and caused it to germinate and grow. He has provided for everything, filled us with His Spirit, and taken care of everything in our lives. Now He is waiting patiently for you and me to cooperate with Him so that we might bear much fruit before He comes again. The seed is in that fruit to bear more fruit. God wants us to depend upon His enabling, follow His example of working and waiting on Him, and so prove to be His disciples. You are equal to the task because He is the “Lord of the Harvest”, and He has called you to be His laborers. The coming of the Lord is very soon!

“For you are God’s fellow-workers: you are God’s field” (I Corinthians 3:9). May you experience the Lord’s care for you, and may your lives bear much fruit for the Lord!

I’m moving on to a new construction site: James 5:9-11. Hope to see you there once construction begins! This work-in-progress must go on until He comes! Or until I go to Him – whichever comes first! May the Lord of the Harvest bear fruit in your life today as you abide in Him! (Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control).

ARE YOU LEAVING GOD OUT? James 4:13-17

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James began his letter by talking about the present situation of his readers and reflecting on their past. Now he begins to look at the future. He begins verse 13 with the words “come now”. I think he’s trying to regain their attention. This is a long letter, and as it’s being read aloud at the various congregations, some of his readers are becoming distracted or falling asleep! It’s time for a “wake-up call” So James says “come now”. We might say, “Come on! You’re doing it again! Come on! Think about what you are doing, and what you are saying to each other!” A popular saying, when I was a child, was: “Get your head screwed on straight!” Nowadays you hear the phrase: “Get your act together!” His readers had been setting themselves up in the place of God by judging others. Now they are doing the same thing again by leaving God out of their plans.

In today’s terms, James is saying that they are telling each other: “I know exactly where I am going, what I’m going to do, how long it is going to take, and how much money I am going to make in the process! James’ response is “come now”, where does God fit into all of this? It reminds me of the poem “Invictus”, written by William Earnest Henley. The closing lines of his poem are written below:

“It matters not how straight the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.”

The poet writes about a person whose life is miserable, but who finds some contentment in the fact that he is in charge. No one is telling him what to do!

Are you leaving God out? Do you sometimes leave God out of your life? Do you prefer to control your own destiny, and do you try to impress others by your ability to do so? Maybe you’ve been doing so today? Maybe you didn’t even realize it until now? If you don’t do something about it today, it becomes easier to leave Him out tomorrow, doesn’t it? What are you saying to God when you make plans without consulting Him?

James isn’t condemning planning. But he is saying, “As you plan, don’t leave out the Master Planner!” “He has plans for you also!” Proverbs 16:9 says, “A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.” (NKJV) Like actors and actresses on a stage, we may think that we can play our roles any way we want, but we are of no heavenly good if we don’t obey the instructions of our “Heavenly Director”! He’s the one in charge of the operation and He knows how to get the job done right!

In verse 14 James asks them a question and then gives them the answer, recalling to their minds passages of Scripture from the Wisdom Literature (Job thru Song of Solomon). He asks “What is your life?” Immediately He answers, “It is a vapor (mist, puff of smoke), that appears for a short time and then vanishes.”

Job says, “my life is but a breath” (7:7); “my days are swifter than a runner” ( 9:15). He also uses such images as a flower, a shadow, and a worm to convey the shortness of life. Psalm 39 also says that life is a breath, and Psalm 73 speaks of life as “a dream that vanishes when we awake.” Proverbs 27:1 says, “Don’t boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth.” Conclusion: Life is brief, and life is uncertain. Can you relate to that? The older you get, the more you will relate to it!

If you are a “Trekkie” [a Star Trek fan], you may remember what happened when the phaser gun’s setting was on “vaporization”. It was an excellent visual aid for depicting a vapor!

I don’t think that this generation has as clear a concept of the passing of time as my generation and the generation before mine. My grandfather had a beautiful pocket-watch, and when we came over for a visit, my two brothers and I would take turns sitting on his lap, and he would put his watch against our ears so that we could hear it ticking. I enjoyed listening to the ticking sound of my first watch whenever I held my left wrist up to my ear. This action on my part caused me to think for a moment about the passing of time: tick . . . tick . . . tick! We now live in a digital age and don’t hear the ticking sound very often anymore. Nevertheless, time is “ticking away”, one second at a time, whether we can hear it or not!

While I was in college, I attended a Navigator conference and Leroy Eims was the main speaker. One of his messages was entitled “Investing Your Life”, and this verse, James 4:14, was the primary focus of his message. After describing what a vapor was, and how long it lasted, he told us that there are only two things in this life that will last forever: God’s Word and people. His challenge was: “What are you going to do with your vapor? Are you going to invest it in the things that will last forever or are you going to let them go to waste? Everything else is going to be burned up! Don’t wait another moment to commit yourself to God and ask Him to change your attitude, so that the things that matter the most to you are the things that matter the most to Him!”

In verse 15, James corrects their boastful words in verse 13 by telling them what they should be saying. James says, “Instead, you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we shall live and also do this or that” (NASB). What he is saying to them is not a new revelation. King David said in Psalm 40:8, “I delight to do Thy will. Thy Law is in my heart.” David also said in Psalm 43:10, “Teach me, O Lord, to do Thy will, for Thou art my God.”

Even clearer and more compelling are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. In John 4:14, when food was set before Him and He was encouraged to eat, the Lord Jesus said, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me, and to accomplish His work” (John 4:34). When He taught His disciples to pray, He told them to pray according to the Father’s will, not their own: “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done“ (Matthew 6:10). In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus said, “Father, if Thou art willing, remove this cup from me; yet not my will but Thine be done.” (Luke 22:42).

In the writings of John, Paul, Peter, Luke, and the letter to the Hebrews, we find the words, “if the Lord wills“, “if the Lord permits”, or something equivalent to that. May those words be a part of our plans and our conversations as well, and may those words be a true expression of our hearts.

With this instruction in mind, James gives them a stern warning: “Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do, and does not do it, to him it is sin.” Do all of his readers know the right thing to do? Do they know what he is talking about? They certainly do! They were taught the commandments from childhood, especially the two great commandments given in Deuteronomy 6 and Leviticus 19. “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:5). The verses that follow say: “These words . . . shall be on your heart . . . teach them diligently to your sons . . . talk of them . . . bind them as a sign on your hand , , , frontals on your forehead . . . write them on the doorposts . . . and on your gates.” And Leviticus 19:18 says, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” So James is saying, in effect, “Therefore, since you know what is right to do, you sin every time you fail to do it!” Planning is important, but life is lived from moment-to-moment, and from situation to situation. God has called us and empowered us to love Him and others each step of the way and every moment of the day. The following saying helps to get the point across: “All that’s needed for evil to triumph is for Christians to do nothing.” I can still remember my father’s words to me: “Don’t just sit there; do something!”

May the Lord continue to unfold His plans for you, and direct your steps today! May your thoughts, words, and actions become more closely aligned with the will of the Father as your love for Him grows deeper.