James 5:7-11 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

“7Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer awaits the precious fruit of the soil—how patient he is for the fall and spring rains. 8You, too, be patient and strengthen your hearts, because the Lord’s coming is near. 9Do not complain about one another, brothers, so that you will not be judged. Look, the Judge is standing at the door!

“10Brothers, as an example of patience in affliction, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11See how blessed we consider those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen the outcome from the Lord. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.”

Impatient or Patient?

Do you ever get impatient? Is there anyone here who never gets impatient? I believe we live in one of those societies, at least here in the USA we do, where everything is getting shorter and shorter and faster and faster, and if it is not short (concise) enough or fast enough, for perhaps a lot of people, people may get impatient, or they may give up and move on to something else. Do you connect? Is this happening where you live? I think the younger generation is especially impacted by this, for so many things now being presented to them move so fast. And so anything slow puts them to sleep.

Well I am old (close to age 77), and I have never been fast at anything. And the older I get, the slower I move, and the slower my brain moves, too. Sometimes while I am sitting and writing, my mind goes absolutely blank, and I can sit here and stare at the screen, and then all of a sudden realize that I lost my place, and so I have to go back and find it. But if things move too fast for me, like people talking fast, I cannot understand what they are saying. I have to ask them to slow down so that I can take it in one word at a time. So some people may get impatient with me, for I am too slow.

When my children were young we used to listen to a song by “Patch the Pirate” titled “Have Patience.” I loved singing the song, too. The lyrics go something like this:

Have patience, have patience,
Don’t be in such a hurry.
When you get impatient
You only start to worry.
Remember, remember
That God is patient, too,
So think of all the times
When others have to wait for you.

Now, although I am slow, I tend to be prompt. Usually I am early. I am hardly ever late for anything. So I always allow extra time so that I will be on time. For I do not do well under time pressure. Never have. So I used to get impatient with those who were not prompt, like I was. And I had to learn to be patient. And I can’t say that I excel in that area, but I work at it, and I do a whole lot better than I used to. I am way more relaxed than I was in my younger days. So patience is something we must work at if it doesn’t come to us naturally. But God will help us if we are willing to change.

Patience in Suffering

But here the subject is patience in suffering. And suffering can come from multiple sources, too, depending upon where we live, the culture of the place where we live, and the people who we are around. And the suffering can be physical, or emotional, or mental, or spiritual in nature. It can be the result of our physical environment, our financial circumstances, the government we live under, and/or the “church” environment with which we are connected. Or it can be associated with our physical relatives or our neighbors or those who call themselves our friends or the place where we work for pay, etc.

And as we watch our world crashing down all around us, and as we see the gospel of Christ being altered and diluted in order to appease human flesh, and as we watch so much evil taking place which is not being dealt with, and which is not being stopped, but which is being allowed and even encouraged to exist, it should break our hearts! If it doesn’t, that is a very sad situation, indeed. So when we see the signs of the times in front of our faces on a daily basis, we might grow weary and be impatient because we want to see people turn from their sins and obey God who are still living in sin.

And if we are those who are standing on the truth of what the Scriptures teach, in a time and culture when the gospel is being so diluted to appease human flesh, we will most likely face much rejection and persecution and false accusations against our character. We won’t be voted “most popular,” and we may have many people (even other Christians) turn against us and want nothing to do with us. And that can be a very lonely life and a painful life emotionally watching the world go to hell, many on the basis of being taught lies which they are believing as truth. So we rest in the Lord!

[Matthew 5:10-12; Matthew 10:16-25,34-39; Matthew 24:9-14; Luke 6:22-23; Luke 12:49-53; Luke 21:12-17; John 15:18-21; John 16:33; Acts 14:22; Romans 5:3-5; 2 Corinthians 1:3-11; Ephesians 6:10-20; Philippians 3:7-11; 1 Thessalonians 3:1-5; Hebrews 12:3-12; James 1:2-4; 1 Peter 1:6-7; 1 Peter 4:12-17; Revelation 6:9-11; Revelation 7:9-17; Revelation 11:1-3; Revelation 12:17; Revelation 13:1-18; Revelation 14:1-13]

Rest in The Lord
An Original Work / September 29, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

The Prayer

Written by David Foster, Carole Bayer Sager,
Alberto Testa and Tony Renis

I pray you’ll be our eyes
And watch us where we go
And help us to be wise
In times when we don’t know

I pray we’ll find your light
And hold it in our hearts
When the stars go out each night
Remind us where you are.

Let this be our prayer
When shadows fill our day
Lead us to a place
Guide us with your grace
To a place where we’ll be safe.

Caution: This link may contain ads