8 Be ye also patient;
stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. 9 Grudge
not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge
standeth before the door. 10 Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have
spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of
patience. 11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of
the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very
pitiful, and of tender mercy. (James
5:8-11)
We take up the subject of patience counselled in verse 7 of yesterday’s
devotion on chapter 5 of James. Patience is of vital importance in the work of
the Lord for all things must be done in good order and at the proper time. It
is even a component requirement of the message of the Advent Season of recent
observation. Patience and watchfulness are always integral to the Christian
life, but especially so at Advent. The Lord expounded in detail of the graces
of patience and watchfulness throughout His Sermon on the Mount of Olives.
Patience is a particularly precious commodity in the days of our youth when
lively exuberance often precludes the temperance of patience. As we grow more
mature, we have witnessed the season come and go, and we learn to wait with
patience and watchfulness. But these two characteristics of the spirit often
grow too slowly while the days of man pass too quickly.
8 “Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of
the Lord draweth nigh.” The only means by which mortal man can “stablish
his heart” is by turning those hearts over to the Lord Jesus Christ who
made those hearts and can maintain them in perfect state. We may learn a
great lesson from Paul in support of the value of patience: “For I know
nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the
Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who
both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest
the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.”
(1 Cor 4:4-5) We grow impatient to see the end of a matter while we most
often should spend more time in studying the details of the means to achieve
that end. If God had not been immeasurably patient in overlooking our
offenses while we tarried in coming to Him in repentance, perhaps all of
mankind would have been lost.
How you ever stopped to consider deeply the value of a single soul? If not, it
is time that you did take that time. The soul is eternal and invaluable. Every
thought and deed that passes through the soul bears eternal consequences. Every
word of condemnation and persecution spoken against the soul of another will be
carried into the eternal future. Do we desire to hear these grudgeful words
echo through all future time as we endure the self-made Hell we shall see
without a forgiving spirit? 9 “Grudge not one against another,
brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door.”
Every Christian reader of this devotion has taken an oath to forgive others in
the same way we desire that God will forgive us. Do you ask when you made such
an oath? Please do not tell me that, as a Christian, you have NEVER repeated
the Lord’s Prayer which we recite every worship service in the Anglican Church.
“And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our
debtors.” (Matt 6:12) The Judge stands at the Door. The Holy
Spirit is privy to every evil thought and deed that crosses our mind and is
acted upon by the soul. He stands at the Door of our Heart.
10 “Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name
of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.”
There are few, if any, recorded lives of prophets that do not reveal their
patience and long suffering. Not only did the kings, princes, and rulers doubt
the veracity of their prophesies, but actually rejected the prophets
intentionally because they did not like the message. “And others had
trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and
imprisonment: They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were
slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being
destitute, afflicted, tormented.” (Heb 11:36-37) Reader, have you
reached this level of patience and forbearance? The simple calling to the
office of prophet immediately labelled one as an enemy of the established
powers – both political and religious. Jesus gave dire warning to
the rulers of Judah for their wickedness in murdering the prophets: “Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise
men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them
shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: That
upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood
of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew
between the temple and the altar.” (Matt 23:34-35) If your
patience seems frail and weak, think on the fate of these prophets, and the
patience they exercised in trying to awaken the apostate minds of their
listeners.
11 “Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of
the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very
pitiful, and of tender mercy.” There is a gratification of the soul
that emerges from depriving the body of harmful appetites and desires. As we
exercise restraint in spending money for the desires of the present, we are
overjoyed at the large savings that allow us to make purchase that are
enduring. When a young boy or girl dedicate their hearts to saving their
virginity for the chosen mate of their lives, what joy in marriage is made
possible thereby. Such patience is not easy – it requires self-discipline and a
determination to wait for the future right and deny the present wrong.
1 “Behold,
we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and
have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender
mercy.” Do you ever wonder at the seeming injustice endured by Job?
Was it not for the purpose of our learning? Do we not learn from Job that Bad
things can, indeed, happen to good people? We learn that Job endured a terrible
onslaught of the devil, yet, he did not succumb to evil. If such things can
happen to Job, do we doubt that they may happen to us. When grief and sorrow
arise in the life of a Christian, they may remember Job. God allowed these
things to happen to Job as a testimony for us to know that we, too, may suffer.
Remember, though, that Job was given twice as much as the devil too away in the
end. Jesus healed a blind boy once which elicited a question from the
disciples. “And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his
birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man,
or his parents, that he was born blind? 3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that
the works of God should be made manifest in him.” (John
9:1-3) The answer Jesus gave is very telling concerning the patience
and endurance of the saints for the sake of the glory of God.
Have you exercised long
suffering patience?
