Waiting Without Complaint
What is it about waiting that can bring out the worst in people? You know the problem. Queues in shops, in traffic or on the phone trying to make an appointment are just some examples of waiting where people’s patience can grow thin. When you have heard that “Your call is important to us” for the umpteenth time or only moved a few metres in minutes, you can feel the pressure testing the gasket in your head! A definition of patience as waiting without complaint sounds good - until we have to demonstrate it! Patience is seen as the need to be passive in the face of “issues” or even to deal with boredom, but in today’s verses, James addresses the patience that is required in the face of suffering and he quotes the well-known Biblical character of Job.
James 5v10-11 Brothers, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
If ever a man exemplified patience, perseverance and endurance it was Job. So much so, that his example occurs in secular speech with use of the expression ‘He or she has the patience of Job’. In the midst of so many acts of suffering, Job’s perseverance was grounded in his understanding of God and the conviction that God was in control. On that terrible day when he lost his family and many animals, we read in Job 1 that he worshipped God, saying "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised. In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing”. The reality of Job’s account and his patience only make sense with the realisation that, through it all, God was at work. Its end product was God’s ultimate purpose of love and kindness becoming evident.
We are part of a world blighted by affliction, pressure, persecution and impatience; touched by problems which are difficult to understand. There are times when we witness those - even feel ourselves - in total despair. Yet, as with Job, God knows, He is in control and is able to step into our problems. And, of course, one day He is coming to take His people home and, in the glory of heaven, we will then realise that, even in our darkest hour, the Lord was full of compassion and mercy. In times of doubt, loss of confidence and trouble, even distance from God, all brought about by human weakness, spiritual troubles are a reality for the Christian. There are also many today who will oppose the Gospel and Christians are set against the world in the name of Christ. In all such times and issues of life, we need to be patient, to wait without complaint because ultimately God will bring the victory and all things will be made right in Him. We pray…
Heavenly Father, in my humanity, I am a person of weakness, one who seeks to endure but fails. Forgive me Lord, but more than that, help me. Help me to be patient, give me perseverance so that I can be an effective witness for Jesus and wait for that day when all things shall be revealed and I understand that my sufferings were not in vain as I find eternal peace in Christ, amen.
Rev John Noble