Patience in Suffering

May 2, 2011

James 5:7 “Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming.  See how the farmer waits for the land to yield a valuable crop and how patient he is for the fall and spring rains.”

My dear Lord, patience is something we all know we all need and know we should have.  However; most of us do not actually want to be patient.  In the flesh we want immediate resolution to our problems.  We want the oppressor judged and sentenced yesterday.  When we are suffering, it is hard to wait.  I know You understand that from Your hours before Your death.

           

I taught my children that patience meant waiting without complaining.  It is really funny now to hear my grandchildren recite when asked what patience means, “It means waiting without complaining.”

Having grown up on a farm, I can well understand this analogy.  You have a specific plan for each and every seed.  Each kind has its own timeline.  Without ample water the seed will not grow. There may be irrigation that can bring water from an ample source, but for the most part, farmers have to await the rain You send and await the seeds to sprout and grow.  These things are out of our control.  So it is with suffering we do not bring on ourselves.

Lord, there are things that will be happening soon in our lives over which we will have no control.  You are telling us to be patient as Your return is even more eminent than in James’ day.  In the end all will be made right.  Justice will prevail.  But until then we are to “wait without complaint”.