Exercise Patience

James 5 1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.

2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.

3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

4 Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.

5 Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.

6 Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.

James does two things here, first he lets us know that our earthly riches are going to be ultimately worthless; second he berates us for not laying up our treasures in Heaven. He advises the rich to howl (shreik or wail). We can conclude that there were some people of wealth in the early church who had forgotten they were only stewards of God's goods. If this was true in the days of James, how much more true is it today! We see a church very rich in material things but lacking the spiritual things of God.

James 5:7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.

Farmers have to wait for their crops and wait patiently for "the early and latter rain". We hear of these rains often in scripture (Deuteronomy 11:14 That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil. Jeremiah 5:24 Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest. Joel 2:23 Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month. )

The early rain comes causing the seed to germinate and the latter rain comes causing the grain to mature. There is nothing the farmers can do except wait patiently for the rains to come and do their miraculous work. This is how it is with us today.. The former rain fell at pentecost and the latter rain has been falling recently. God is "maturing " His harvest and we must wait patiently until He comes.

 James 5:8 Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.  

Looking at the image of the farmer, James says, "You must be patient, too; you must "set fast" your hearts, because the coming of the Lord is close at hand." The early church was looking for their Lord's return; and while waiting for Him, their faith was to be firmed up. 

Our day is no time for wavering. Christ is coming for those who are looking for Him (1Peter 4:7 But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer. ) ; and even though believers fail to realize time as God does (2Peter 3:8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. ), they must be holy and blameless in body and spirit (1Thessalonians 3:13 To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. 1Thessalonians 5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. )