Be Patient, Be Strong

"You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, 

for the coming of the Lord is near."

James 5:8

James wants to encourage Christians to stand firm in trials. He reminds us that the Lord's return is near, and he tells Christians to "be patient" and "strengthen your hearts". The focus here in on the Lord's second coming. It is imminent. It will happen. The coming of Christ is mentioned some three hundred times in the New Testament.  There is a mention of the coming of Christ one time for every thirteen verses from Matthew to Revelation. It is the one single event that every Christian should long for and watch for. The Christian life requires patience and endurance as we wait for the Lord's return. Trials are never ending. One may end, but another will eventually take its place. There will always be something for us to endure. That's true for everyone - believers and unbelievers alike. The difference is that we believers have access to the Holy Spirit, and He is able to empower us to endure tribulation. Our responsibility is to purpose to live with patience and strength, and then to ask the Holy Spirit to help us do so. His responsibility is to give us what we need. He is faithful. He will do it.

A Better Way

"In repentance and rest you will be saved, 

In quietness and trust is your strength.” 

But you were not willing, 

And you said, “No, for we will flee on horses,” 

Isaiah 30:15-16

God's timing is always right, but far too often His children refuse to wait on Him. Sometimes they feel He's delaying to their detriment, so they take matters in their own hands and rush ahead of Him. The Lord won't honor such disobedience. He has a plan for all the circumstances in our lives that He wants to accomplish for His glory and our blessing. When we doubt God's ability to rescue us, we must repent of our lack of trust and rest quietly in Him. When we do, our spirits will be strengthened. It's not always easy to sit still and trust in God to work, but when we practice patience we find that the outcome is always better than it would have been if we had rushed ahead of God. "Certain of God's people are in trouble and distress, and they are eager for immediate rescue. They cannot wait God's time, nor exercise submission to His will. He will surely deliver them in due season; but they cannot tarry till the hour cometh; like children, they snatch at unripe fruit. 'To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven'; but their one season is the present; they cannot, they will not wait. They must have their desire instantaneously fulfilled, or else they are ready to take wrong means of attaining it. If in poverty, they are in haste to be rich; and they shall not long be innocent. If under reproach, their heart ferments towards revenge. They would sooner rush under the guidance of Satan into some questionable policy, than in childlike simplicity trust in the Lord and do good. It must not be so with you, my brethren, you must learn a better way." (Spurgeon)

When We're Ready

"I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now."
 John 16:12

As a young girl, I had many questions for my mother about life. Sometimes she would tell me, "Wait until you're older and I'll tell you." She discerned that I wasn't yet ready to receive what she had to say. I needed more maturity to comprehend it. In the Upper Room discourse, Christ had things to share with His disciples that they were not yet ready to receive. Later these things would be revealed to them by the Holy Spirit when they had the strength to bear them. In our own lives we find that God does not reveal everything to us at once. He has not told us some things out of His love for us. At some point we may be mature enough to handle it and He will tell us then. Other things He will not show us until we see Him face to face.  "Compassed with these veils of flesh and weakness, groping amidst the shadows of time, bewildered by the cross-lights that fall upon us from so many surrounding objects, we have not yet eyes able to behold the ineffable glory. . .Let us wait with patience until we are ready for the illumination. For two things go to make revelation, the light that reveals and the eye that beholds." -- Alexander MacLaren

Give Him Time

"Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward."

Hebrews 10:35

At the time these words were written to the Hebrew Christians, they were likely under great persecution from the leaders of Judaism and the Roman government. Can you imagine the temptation it must have been for them to slip back into their "old religion" of following laws and rituals? Especially since they had been looking for the return of Christ and He had not yet appeared. They needed encouragement to carry on, and the writer of Hebrews offers it to them in presenting the superiority and sufficiency of Christ and His new covenant, over the old. A reminder is given of how they started out strong in their new faith and they needed to continue to hold it fast. In so doing, they would receive a great reward. When trials come our way, we may become impatient with God, and tempted to fall away into old patterns of life that exclude Him. It is then that we must choose to remain confident. Amy Carmichael said, "We say, then, to anyone who is under trial, give Him time to steep the soul in His eternal truth. Go into the open air, look up into the depths of the sky, or out upon the wideness of the sea, or on the strength of the hills that is His also; or, if bound in the body, go forth in the spirit; spirit is not bound. Give Him time and, as surely as dawn follows night, there will break upon the heart a sense of certainty that cannot be shaken." 

The Harvest is Coming

"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." 

Galatians 6:9

The farmer patiently works in his field, even when he is tired, and is rewarded with a crop to reap. As we set our hearts to serve God, to live our lives according to His word, there will be times when we become weary. During those times it is good to remember this scripture and refuse to give up. Be of good cheer. The harvest is coming.