Just be patient...

James 5:7-12

I remember when I was younger and all those speakers would pull out their charts and talk about how soon Jesus was going to come back. They wouldn't specifically state a time but they were pretty sure it was going to be right away. I don't hear that kind of talk anymore. It's been a long time since I've been filled with wonder at the idea that Jesus could come back today. I wonder what happened to all those guys and their charts?
Maybe people got tired of waiting. Maybe the reason that I haven't been stopped short is because all those times I was, Jesus didn't come back. James tells his readers to be patient. He uses a very vivid word picture of a farmer waiting for the harvest. I think this word picture is very appropriate: the farmer doesn't just wait idly for the harvest - he works the soil, maybe even irrigates, fertilizes and weeds but all his efforts don't hurry the harvest. The harvest will arrive in the proper time. As we wait for Jesus and the coming kingdom, we don't sit idly by. We work hard but all our work will not hasten Jesus' return. Jesus will come in the proper time.
James compares our waiting for Jesus with the prophets' waiting for the fulfillment of prophecy. I wonder what they were thinking after they made their bold predictions and faithfully spoke the words that God had given them. I wonder if they were ridiculed when their words didn't prove true right away. I wonder if they argued with God and questioned him. I wonder if they felt like fools. James says that we regard those prophets with honour because they persevered i the face of delayed fulfillment and in the face of persecution. James calls us to be as patient as the prophets.
He also uses Job as an example which is kind of weird to me. Job isn't someone that I would immediately describe as patient. He complained bitterly. He questioned God and demanded that he come and defend himself. He did not exhibit the characteristics of a patient person and yet James calls him patient because he did not abandon his faith in the midst of severe pain. James is calling me to do the same. Don't give up. Don't let the circumstances of life dictate what I will believe. Don't let Jesus' "delay" cause me to stumble. Yes, I should be longing for and looking for the return of my King but in the mean time I must continue to patiently work. The harvest will come in its proper time.