Patience (James 5)

We live in the instant generation. Push a button and we can have immediate entertainment. Send an email and have replies in a few minutes. Type to a robot via a messaging service and you can have a bank loan, whether you need it or should have it. Whatever the benefits in these things, they don’t really have a parallel in the Christian life. How many prayers are answered immediately apart from the request for pardon? One of the most helpful comments I heard in theological college was this: we overestimate what God will do in six months and we underestimate what he will do in ten years. That statement is true.

 

When Christian in Pilgrim’s Progress was given a tour of the Interpreter’s House, he was taken to a small room where sat two little children, one called Passion and the other called Patience. Passion was very discontent whereas Patience was very quiet. The Interpreter tells Christian that Passion depicts the men of this world who want its treasures now. Patience, in contrast, was a picture of those who are willing to wait for the glory of the next world. Bunyan, in that illustration, summarises what the Bible says true patience is.

 

Yet we should not assume that patience is merely a passive outlook, or that is disinterested in life in this world. The author of Hebrews tells his readers: ‘And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises’ (Heb. 6:11-12). Patience is accompanied by earnestness.

 

Christian patience and the patience of Jesus

Patience is a divine attribute, but we should remember that there are several differences between God’s patience and our patience. For example, there is a great difference between the length of the time in which they show patience. Christians, even those who live the longest, do so for a much shorter time than God. Moreover, Christians don’t have full knowledge of what life will bring whereas the Lord is omniscient. Again, Christians are weak, and their opponents are numerous, whereas God is omnipotent and the numbers against him make no difference.

 

Yet, having said that, it is the case that we should imitate the patience that Jesus revealed as a man. There are many examples of his patience in the Gospels. We can consider the patience he showed towards those in the family of Joseph and Mary who did not regard him as the Messiah. His brother James responded to Jesus on one occasion with sarcasm. On another occasion, his mother and his brothers came to his house in Capernaum to take him back to Nazareth because they disapproved of what he was doing. Their response must have affected Jesus, but he was patient through it all.

 

Another example of his patience is his response to the group of disciples that he had selected to be his followers. On several occasions, they indicated their slowness to believe his teachings. In the upper room, on the last evening of his life, he had to say to Philip, ‘Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip?’ (John 14:9).

 

In his years of public teaching, Jesus showed patience as he endured the opposition of the Pharisees. On the cross, Jesus showed patience with the soldiers who crucified him and with the criminal who verbally abused him but who later asked for mercy. After his ascension, Jesus showed great patience with Saul of Tarsus as he attacked the church and caused great damage. 

 

These are some examples for us of patience in family life, of patience with slowness of believers, and of patience with opponents who display contempt and express hostility. Obviously, the Saviour is the best example, but there are other examples in the Bible and here are some details of individuals who showed patience.

 

Patient believers in the Bible

For those who now what the Bible contains, the individual who comes to mind for his patience is Job who displayed commitment to his God despite experiencing a long list of troubles, and he also had to endure the comments of his friends who misunderstood completely what had happened to him. An obvious lesson from their involvement is that we should be slow to speak about why things happen to others.

 

Noah was called by God to build an ark, a task that took a long time. During those years, he was preaching about righteousness, and there were no converts as far as we know. What patience he had to have! Abraham was another believer who showed patience throughout the years that he was a believer. He had to wait for years for the God-promised son to be born, he had to wait a long time to have any territory in the land of Canaan, and he had to endure problems in his family circle. 

 

Then we can think of Joseph who had to wait for years before the promises God gave him through dreams were fulfilled. He did not only have to wait, but he had to go through trials that suggested the opposite was happening. Something similar happened with David who, after being told by God that he would be king of his people, had to spend many years on the run from Saul. Isaiah had to preach to a people who would not accept his message, even as God had told him beforehand. 

 

A patient person lives by faith

A person of faith has a relationship with God in which he focuses on the character of God. That individual has patience mainly because of his knowledge of God. So what is there about his God that helps him become patient? One obvious answer to that question is that the patient believer recognises the sovereignty of God. He acknowledges that God is in charge, that he is the almighty God, who controls all things. The believer is glad to know that the one in who he trusts is sovereign over everything.

 

Connected to a recognition of the sovereignty of God is a recognition of the wisdom of God. Wisdom is the ability to do the best with your knowledge. God knows all things, but he also knows what the best response to everything in the ‘all things’ is. The reason why he can do so is because he is constantly wise. He is in control of the lives of those who trust in him and he is working for their good, and he can do so because he knows what is the best option for them. So in difficult times, a believer can have patience because he understands that God always knows the best choice to make or which action to take.

 

The believer also knows that God is faithful with those who trust in him. His faithfulness is highlighted in his Word by those passages which stress that he is in covenant with his people. It is inconceivable to imagine a situation in which the Lord will not be faithful to his promises. Combining a focus on those attributes of God – his knowledge, his wisdom and his faithfulness – enables a believer to realise that the Lord can and will help him. They are how he will reveal his love to them as they make their ways through life.

 

One familiar passage about patience that shows this faith in God is the opening verses of Psalm 40: ‘I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord’ (vv. 1-3). The psalmist expressed his patience by continually praying for deliverance. Robert Bruce pointed out that this experience was evidence that God was strengthening the believer to keep on praying, and that delays are not denials by God. Eventually, God sent down one of his ropes (his promises) and drew David out of the pit.

 

Another psalm that mentions the connection between patience and faith in God is Psalm 37:7: ‘Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!’ David showed his patience in the presence of God by being still in the midst of difficulties. In Psalm 73, a similar source of distress is described by Asaph; he had taken his eyes of God, but he received relief and recovery when he went into the presence of God. 

 

A patient person has a life of fortitude 

James, the brother of Jesus, says in his letter that trials produce patience or steadfastness, the ability to keep on going. J. C. Philpot says in a sermon on that verse from James that trials can come from above, from below, from without and from within. That is a very helpful way of looking at them. Trials can come from above when God sends them; trials come from below through the temptations of the devil; trials come from without when people oppose us in one way or another; and trials come from within when our sinful tendencies show themselves. Every Christian will learn patience in each of these aspects. Yet in a strange way, they also develop his patience.

 

Sometimes, we wish we had an easier life. No doubt, that desire can happen when the pressure is too much, and it is right at such times to long for an easier path. But life without struggles will deprive us of the power of God, life without sorrow will deprive us of the comfort of God, and life without problems will keep us from the presence of God. Fortitude is required for living the Christian life. The Christian life has no problem-free areas. We must keep on going. One minister described the Christian life as like a person climbing a mountain path. Often he takes two steps up and slides back one. Is he making progress? Yes, because eventually he will get to the top, but he will have to be patient in the difficulties of the path and with his own tendency to slip back or to trip over things. 

 

A patient person lives for the future

What is the point of being patient? Is there something that makes patience worthwhile? The answer is yes, and that is the amazing future that God has promised. When seated in heaven, with a crown on your head, you will not regret the difficulty of the way. When you get a great reward for persisting in acts of service for Jesus, you will not say that another lifestyle should have been practised.

 

What kept Job going as he struggled through his time of distress? He knew that his Redeemer was alive and that the day would yet come when he would see him face to face. What kept Abraham going through decades of waiting? He knew that he was going to a city whose builder and maker is God. What kept Paul serving day after day? He knew that it would be good for him if he could present to Jesus the believers that he as an apostle had known and helped. Why do we pray for someone to be saved? So that they will be in heaven eventually. Why do we keep on doing little things as well as big things for Jesus? So that we will hear him say, ‘Well done.’

 

The value of patience

What is it to follow in the footsteps of the flock, as the Song of Solomon puts it? It means to imitate those Christians we have known or who have gone before us. Many things marked them, but one of the clearest was patience in a wide variety of settings. Such patience was not alone in their lives – it was part of the fruit of the Spirit. It is good to be imitators of those who through faith and patience are now inheriting the promises.

 

One final comment on patience. In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul describes love. The first feature of the love he has in mind is patience. Is that not why love can bear all things, believe all things, hope all things, endure all things? People talk a lot about love, but is their love marked by patience as well as the other aspects of love mentioned in that passage by the apostle? In that verse, Paul also links patience and kindness. At first, we may find that a strange combination, until we realise that impatience is usually an expression of selfishness, of anger because my aims have been hindered. Patience enables love to be kind, and then together they contribute to the other features of genuine love.