Patient in suffering (Pt.2)

Part 2

“Don’t grumble about each other, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. For look-the Judge is standing at the door!”-James 5:9

Waiting does not always bring out the best in us. Really? Am I the only one that has taken my anxiety out on someone who did not deserve it. I am worried or frustrated and I grumble and complain and heap my burden on other people because I am at a loss. The Bible said we are to bear one another’s burdens, but that doesn’t mean that we just go around heaping our frustrations on them. We need to learn how to be patient in our suffering:

 “For examples of patience in suffering, dear brothers and sisters, look at the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 We give great honor to those who endure under suffering. For instance, you know about Job, a man of great endurance. You can see how the Lord was kind to him at the end, for the Lord is full of tenderness and mercy.”-James 5:10-11

 James said that the Bible is packed with prophets that endured great suffering for Lord’s sake and demonstrated patience instead of frustration. James, however, specifically chooses to highlight Job as the model man of suffering. For those of you that do not have much background with Job let me give you a brief synopsis: 

Satan was given permission to torment Job’s life, but was not allowed to take his life. 

His children were all killed, his wealth was taken from him, his physical health was afflicted, his wife told him to to curse God and die, and his friends were convinced that all this was coming upon him because he had unconfessed sin. Come on you ever walk through season of your life like that? Just one bad thing after another? Wondering where is God in all this? We have the privilege of perspective to know that God was behind everything happening in Job’s life and that God was sovereignly keeping him. But Job had no idea. All he could do is trust God- He even makes this statement in Job 13:15 (NKJV): “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” 

That single statement communicates a lot about Job in the midst of his suffering. God demonstrated His faithfulness by walking with Job throughout his entire ordeal:

“We give great honor to those who endure under suffering. For instance, you know about Job, a man of great endurance. You can see how the Lord was kind to him at the end, for the Lord is full of tenderness and mercy."-James 5:11

In the end God restored to Job twice what the enemy had stolen from him. Job 42:12 tells us that God blessed the second half of his live even more than the first half. However, that was not the objective of Job’s suffering. What Job walked away with, was not simply more wealth, but instead a greater understanding of the Lord’s tenderness and mercy.

Pastor Scott Burr

Dayspring Community Church