James 5:7-12--Patience in Suffering

James 5:7-12 English Standard Version (ESV)
Patience in Suffering
7 Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. 8 You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. 9 Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door. 10 As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.
12 But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.

Listen Here:  https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/esv/Jas.5.7-Jas.5.12

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We just left off talking about how God will ultimately get justice, even against the arrogant and boastful who make their riches taking advantage of their employees and customers, and possibly even by killing off their competition.  James then reminds us to patiently wait the coming of the LORD when He will reward those who are found to be in Him, but will pour out His wrath on those who's live song is "I Did It My Way."  Be patient both in receiving your reward and in praying for those who are evil to reap what they sow as well.

Remember that we should not judge and condemn those who have already been set free and declared righteous by God.  Do not call for God's judgement on them based on their works because that is not how you want God to judge you.  Instead if this causes us to suffer, we should patiently endure it just as so many other devout followers of God who went before us have done (the writer mentions the prophets of the Old Testament and we can also look to the apostles and the other martyrs of the early Church)..  God has a special blessing for those who endure and remain faithful to the end.  As a sign of this, James reminds us of the story of Job in the Old Testament where Job is rewarded for his faithfulness and patience in the face of great adversity (we now say that someone "Has the patience of Job" because of this story).  The Lord showed Himself to be beyond our grasp and put into perspective the verse from Isaiah that says, "His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts."  In everything that happened to Job, God was still good, compassionate and merciful, and we should be too if we are His children.

Last, but not least, James returns to the teaching of Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount about Oaths and Vows.  We should not need to swear by anything else to make people believe us or act like if we swear one way it's binding, but in another way, it's not.  Simply let your word be your bond--let your "yes" be "yes" and your "no" be "no," anything else is evil and of the devil and James says that it deserves to be condemned (that word when we read it in the New Testament means that its place it in hell).  We should be people of the truth because Jesus is the Truth.  We should have so much integrity that people would never question our word.  When that happens then people are more likely to believe the God we serve.  If they know us to be a person full of lies and deceit, then they will assume we serve a God who lies and deceives, but if we are full of truth and integrity, then they will assume that we serve a God who is full of truth and integrity.