James 5:7,8 – “The Coach”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

⁷Therefore, brothers, be patient until the coming of the Lord. Look! The farmer awaits the precious fruit of the earth, being patient upon it, until he receives [the] early and latter [rains]. ⁸You, also, be patient and establish your hearts, because the coming of the Lord has drawn near.

The opening words of verse 7 further convince me that vv1-6 were spoken to the wicked rich, not believers. Here in v7, he immediately says, “Therefore, brothers …” In so doing, it seems to me he is addressing a different group.

Before I dive into v7, another thought I want to include is that vv1-6 too often apply to people who call themselves Christians. The British Empire called itself Christian but they were to the people they ruled every single line of vv1-6. They ruled their colonies in complete godless cruelty while naming the naming of Jesus, in spite of the fact that James 5:1-6 was in the very Bible they so claimed to advance. I have also seen far too many “church” people in my life whose business dealings were anything but Christian. All of this is very sad, because those “business” dealings, to a large extent, are the single largest exposure we have to people who need the Lord. Our work lives ought to “adorn the doctrine of God our Savior” in all things, but too often just “give the enemies of the Lord cause to blaspheme.” God help us all to live our faith 24/7, especially in all our business dealings.

Unfortunately, there will always be the wicked rich and too many of them will call themselves Christian … therefore be patient, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. This brings us back to the vv7,8.

Life is full of hardships. One among those many is the oppressions of the rich and powerful over the rest of us peasants. But, without those hardships, we’d still have plenty to suffer. Life is simply hard. So James returns to the subject of patience with which he opened this book (1:3-12). There he specifically used the word for “endurance” or “perseverance” – staying under the fight, while here he uses the word more commonly translated “patience.” It has more the meaning of being “slow to burn.” For myself, the two words are so close to synonymous; I won’t make much of the distinction here.

It’s interesting to me that James, in a sense, begins and ends his book with calls to patience. For myself, when I started this study I was struggling with the workload at my job. James’ words in chapter 1 really helped me to keep my head up, keep loving people, and to stay positive. Now, over two years later, the workload is far more intense and I’m struggling more than ever. So here I find myself wading into the next section of James, and what do I find? A call to patience. I see that little smile on the Lord’s face and those knowing eyes. The old sneak. “Yes, Don. This is what I’m trying to teach you. I want you to learn how to carry a heavy workload and yet keep trusting and keep loving.” And I would tell Him, “Thank you. I want to be different. I want to be stronger.” And I am so glad I’ve got a coach that never gives up on me – one who “has begun a good work and will continue it …”

So what have I learned in the last two years? I think I have particularly come to realize the problem is entirely within myself. In other words, the problem really isn’t the workload or the deadlines or anything else. The problem is how I see them, how I respond to them, how I think about them. That realization is itself encouraging because I have every confidence that the Lord will eventually teach me something to totally alter how I think and allow me to live above it all. I spent one weekend completely freaked out about something and went into work Monday morning expecting my boss to be on the warpath. When I greeted him, he was his usual calm self, and when I mentioned whatever it was that I thought was a huge problem, he just shrugged his shoulders and said something like, “Oh, we’ll work through it.” Here we are, both facing the exact same problem. If anything, he has more responsibility in it than I do. I’m freaked out and he’s just calmly going about his life. That was one of the times the Lord really, really clearly showed me that the problem is me.

And so the Lord brings me back again to the subject of patience.

As I wade into vv7,8, I do so far more keenly aware that the problem is within me. I definitely haven’t conquered it. If anything it’s worse. But I wade into these verses hopeful that He will teach me and that I’ll either move some new step closer to putting this behind me, or perhaps He will drop one of His atom bombs on my brain and finally allow me some quantum leap of improvement.

The Coach is still at it. I’m so glad He doesn’t give up. It is great to be on His team.