Wait For It

Patience is a virtue that we all admire and know to be useful, but nothing of our modern world is conducive towards that end. Speed and efficiency rule the day, training us to expect instant everything. Fantastic as this might be for a market economy, it is terrible for your soul. Technology streamlines life, but has also made us less resilient and able to wait patiently, especially in suffering. When adversity strikes, as it always does, we either abandon the process for quick fixes or unravel emotionally.

James exhorts his audience—oppressed by wealthy landowners who were defrauding them (V1-6)—to cultivate patience instead of reacting with haste or anger. What exactly is the kind of patience he speaks of? James employs two Greek terms for patience: one meaning "long-tempered" (V7-8), implying self-restraint, and the other meaning "to bear under" (V11), evoking endurance amid hardship, like rising after every blow. This isn't mere stoicism but a strength rooted in theological conviction. Just as a farmer sows and waits for uncontrollable rain, we must act on God's word and trust it to yield fruit over time.

Every OT prophet faced persecution, often unto death, yet were vindicated—which is why their words remain with us today. Job lost everything—family, wealth, health—without knowing why, but James affirms God's compassionate, merciful purpose. How? Only if something surpasses life itself: namely, our perfection and intimacy with God. As James opened in 1:2-4: "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."