James 5:10,11 – “Fishes”

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

¹⁰Brothers, take [for] an example the suffering and the patience of the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. ¹¹Look! We consider blessed ones who endure. You have heard of the endurance of Job and you have seen the outcome of the Lord, that the Lord is very compassionate and sympathetic.

Suffering and patience.

The Lord certainly knows what we need! As I have studied these two verses for the last several weeks, it seems like He has opened the very windows of Heaven to teach me and show me and help me. It has been very sweet to ponder suffering and patience and endurance, considering them alongside the “outcome” of the Lord, that is He is very compassionate and sympathetic.

As I embarked on these very verses my own workload went from impossible to utterly beyond impossible. My usual nature would have been to finally and completely freak out. But, as I was studying these verses, it was as if the Lord was giving me a calm in my soul. It was all so far beyond impossible, there was no point in freaking out, or anything else for that matter. There was only one possible hope and that was to simply trust Him who laid it all on me, to go and do what I could, and simply trust that somehow He would make the rest work out. And that is exactly what He has done. As I’ve (He’s) quieted my heart and I sincerely contented myself to simply do what I could, in one situation after another He’s blessed my little fishes and loaves and accomplished what I could not.

I know I’m famous for being brave when the battle is distant, that the second I get clobbered again, I’ll probably collapse in yet another fit of faithlessness; but I actually feel in my soul that He really has changed something inside me. “I used to hear Him with my ear; now I see Him with my eye.”

“Stars only shine in the night.” A diamond must be cut. Jewels must be polished. Arrows must be sharpened. To be reared in the lap of luxury only leaves us soft and weak. It takes a storm to prove a ship seaworthy. “The flames will not hurt thee, I only design, thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.” Job got to see “the end of the Lord” only because he endured. We only know his name because He suffered. “He who strikes us with one hand, supports us with the other.” The Lord is very compassionate – He cannot ever, ever, ever be cold-hearted or disinterested. He is very compassionate and sympathetic – that is His nature, that is who He is. He knows it better that we gain character than that we should be comfortable – and loves us enough to order our lives accordingly.

A couple of things the Lord has particularly used to help me – right at this moment when I was being crushed, my boss lent me a book that counseled people to take one thing at a time – no matter how much I think I have to do – to pick that which was most important and focus on it. Along with that, the book counseled people to keep only one project on their desk at once. Engineers’ desks are typically mountains of files and plans and projects and mine is no different. Only one project on my desk at once??? That would seem almost impossible except that I’ve actually seen it. My very first boss out of college was the very finest of engineers, a man named Dave Hawkins. When he would call me in to his office to review a project, it would seriously be the only file on his desk. It would be the only thing in the entire office “out of place.” I found that utterly amazing (and admirable) back then, but it was and always has been only that – something to be admired, but not something that I could ever be – for me it has only ever been something to be aspired. But somehow – and maybe because it was all so utterly and beyond impossible – the Lord helped me do just that, to very deliberately look at all the assignments, pick the most important, and then, with Him calming my soul, just to do what I could. I found it actually worked!

The other thing that really helped me was something I read, and I don’t know who the author was, but he said that Christians “ought to keep from restlessness.” He said we need to guard against “the restlessness that keeps going to the door, or looking out at the window, and so takes us off the duty of the hour. We cannot do our work well while we keep a restless state of mind. If we are expecting an arrival at our home, but are uncertain of the precise time, it altogether spoils our work for the day; it compels us to do nothing, if we allow ourselves to become restless … we shall undervalue our present work, and think lightly of our present responsibilities; and instead of spending our strength in service, we shall spend it in worrying and restless watchings … [we should be] actually found at work when the master returns.”

That really helps me too. I want to do good work. I don’t want to waste my energies “going to the door, and looking out the window.” I don’t want to be “restless” while I work.

Another quote I want to record is similar. This might have been from Spurgeon, but I’m not sure. It is from the Biblical Illustrator and is actually commenting back on verse 7 about the farmer, but is still helpful here: “He, indeed, knows not which field shall best prosper, or whether both shall be alike good; but he quietly, and without distraction, waits the arrival of spring, when the tender herb shall appear. And shall he be wiser in his worldly ways than you, who are the husbandmen of the Most High? In providential concerns you are perplexed, and your fears are many; but why be careful for the morrow? Of what avail is this tumult of mind, this agitation of spirit? Under tedious delays, does this rebellion of heart do other than increase your misery? Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord; observe how the husbandman waits, how deep is the conviction that impatience will never accelerate his harvest. Moreover, in your case, your hopes are delayed by this temper. Suffer not your fears-I had almost, but for pity, said, your follies--to triumph. You are no proper judge of the length of time you have waited: every minute has been to you as an hour, or as a year. You misjudge the motive of his delay; it is, that he may commend your patience, as well as reward your labours.”

All of this seems to have fallen together at the same time such that, again, I feel in my soul He really has helped me. Maybe I am actually a little more mature. Maybe I really can do a little better job just being confident in Him. My heart is deeply inclined to fear “what’s next?” but I hope whatever that is that maybe I really can do a better job of facing it calmly and trusting God through it. Richard Baxter is reported to have said from his deathbed, “Lord, when Thou wilt, what Thou wilt, how Thou wilt.”

“He must increase; I must decrease.”

James 5:9 – “Don’t Be a Grouch!”

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

⁹Brothers, don’t groan against one another, that you may not be judged. Look! The Judge has taken His stand before the doors.

Beginning in verse 7, James has called us to live in patience even as we face the hardships of life. Then he adds this admonition of verse 9 not to “groan against each other.” I have found the precise meaning of the verse a little difficult to pin down given the word which I’ve translated “groan.” The verb “stenazo” means something like “to groan, to sigh inwardly, to sigh heavily.” It expresses internal emotions, not necessarily outward expressions. So what is the Lord specifically asking us not to do here? The NIV translates it “Don’t grumble against each other.” The NASB translates it, “Do not complain against one another.” The thing I’m not sure about is that words like “grumble” and “complain” are more outward, actually verbal expressions, where “stenazo” is more inward.

From my resources, I can’t tell for sure whether the word embraces those outward expressions but I get the impression it does. He is clearly calling us not to get impatient with each other, but I guess I’m not sure if He is here specifically calling us to check the problem inwardly or outwardly. Practically speaking it probably doesn’t make any difference. If my thoughts are making me “groan” against other people, then what I express to them will be some form of irritation or grumbling, complaining, etc.

All that said, I think the overall point is obvious. Knowing we will face hardships and difficulties in life, the Lord is saying, “Don’t take it out on each other.” We could probably express the thought by ideas like, “Don’t be a grouch,” or “Don’t be impatient with each other,” or “Don’t let your own troubles make you treat others badly.”

Wow. I’ve been thinking a lot about this as I’ve been studying. Life is of course painful for all of us. Just working through a run-of-the-mill day there are many challenges and situations we find trying – from something as simple as a lid that won’t quite screw on right, to annoying noises, to other people’s driving, clear up to sickness, heavy workloads, or even outright oppression and injustice. As I mentioned above, the word isn’t primarily an outward expression, so it is certainly first of all calling us to keep watch on our hearts in all these troubles and the Lord is recognizing that one way we “fail” under trial is by (whether inwardly or outwardly) taking it out on each other. He doesn’t want us to do that.

I have found this a lot more challenging than I might have guessed. For myself, my own workload seems to only get heavier and heavier. I am fearing not being able to meet our client’s deadlines. All the while I just flat don’t feel good. I ache all over and am really tired. I don’t like winter – and we’re headed into snow and a deep freeze. I’m sure I’m no different than anyone else in all of this. Life is just plain hard. But somehow He wants me to not let my own fears or weariness degenerate into meanness or even just plain unpleasantness to others.

I guess I’ve never noticed before how easy it is to let my own troubles turn my heart against the people around me. I like expressing it as “Don’t be a grouch.” Somehow, I suspect, we all think it isn’t that bad to be a grouch – that it’s just “natural” if I’m struggling myself. But the Lord is very clearly telling us not to be grouches. That is precisely what this verse and its context is about – not letting our own troubles make us impatient with each other. Isn’t that what “being a grouch” is all about? And the Lord is calling us not to do it.

I like this. Don’t be a grouch. I’ve been trying to learn to just love God and others all day every day. But I don’t think I’ve ever let that thought include the temptation to be a grouch. It makes sense. If I’m going to be a loving person, I’ll have to do it even while I’m suffering myself. The fact that the Lord calls us to it assures us we can do it by His Spirit. He has given us the freedom to love others even as we suffer.

Don’t be a grouch!

James 5:7,8 – “Unshaken”

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.

In my studies, I ran across this quote from F.B. Hole, commenting on these verses:

“His coming is our hope, and these words of exhortation ought to come to us with tenfold force today. Are we tested, our hearts oppressed with the burden of unrighted wrongs? “Be ye also patient,” is the word for us. Do we feel unsettled, everything around and within seemingly insecure and shaking? The message comes to us, “Stablish your hearts.” Does it seem as if we are everlastingly sowing without effect? Do we plough and wait, and plough and wait, until we are tempted to think that we are but ploughing sands? “Be patient,” is the word for us, “unto the coming of the Lord.”

“Do we feel unsettled, everything around and within seemingly insecure and shaking?” “Yes!” I would respond. This pretty much describes the world we live in today. I often remember Don McLean’s words from American Pie, “I met a girl who sang the blues, and I asked her for some happy news, but she just smiled and turned away.” I don’t think ever in my life has the world seemed more utterly hopeless. I don’t remember the last time I heard anything encouraging. The news is all bad. The government is hopeless. They are utterly incapable of doing anything that actually helps us. Everything just goes from bad to worse. I’d just as soon be done with it all and I fear to think what kind of world my grandchildren will have to live in.

Yet, what does our passage say? “Establish your hearts.” “Be patient until the coming of the Lord.” “Establish your hearts” – yes, remember that “love is all you need.” In the midst of all this despair, can I still choose to love the people around me? Can I still choose to go to work and do my job the best I can, to be kind to the people I work with, and do what I can to brighten their worlds? Can I still love my wife and be attentive to her needs, love my children and grandchildren and try to be encouraging them to them, to pray for them all? Can I still be determined to smile and be kind to the grocery clerk?

Yes, yes, yes. Love is all you need. Even in this bleak, weary, hopeless world. Even if the government only gets worse and life grows more unbearable. Can I still love? Yes. And isn’t that really all that matters in the end? Yes.

And why is it that love is all that matters in the end? Because “the Coming of the Lord is drawing near.” He who is love is coming. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, all that is not love will suddenly be gone. All the hopelessness. All the cruelty and oppression of the rich and powerful over us peasants. The Sun of Love will suddenly appear and all the darkness of this earthly night will be dispelled forever. And what will be rewarded? “Love is the fulfillment of the law.”

I don’t know about anyone else, but that is enormously encouraging to me. I need to keep reminding myself that love is all that matters. No matter how bleak the world, I need to let love shine from my heart. When Love comes -- and He will – then love itself will be our reward. So let us keep on loving. Let us establish our hearts in this resolve; let us set the fencepost of our minds in the concrete of this determination – to love no matter what. May it make us brave. “Be kind and have courage,” she said.

“A new commandment I give to you, that you should love one another. As I have loved you, so also you should love one another.”

Yes. I am easily shaken, but love doesn’t have to be.

Yes. God help me. “The joy of the Lord is your strength.”