To Encourage You

James 5:7-8 “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. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.”

One of the things that we should realize about the deep spiritual truths of God’s Word is that God really and truly does want us to understand them. They aren’t beyond our reach. Otherwise, He would have never preserved the words of the Scriptures throughout the centuries for our use. It’s very true that “all Scripture is breathed out by God” (2 Timothy 3:16), a God whose thoughts are higher than our thoughts as the heavens are above the earth (Isaiah 55:8-9). Yet, He’s provided it to us in ways that it is possible, with the aid of the Holy Spirit, to understand. He’s provided it with the promise that all of it, every single part, is “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 2:16-17).

One of the ways that he makes His eternal and infinite spiritual truth comprehensible, is to give us many similes and metaphors of very common things. One such example is in the passage above from James 5. Here he talks about farmers. Here in Brush Valley where I live, I’m surrounded by them. He tells us that farmers have great patience. They don’t plant a seed and give up on their fields if they don’t see any ripe grain the very next day. Farmers realize that there is a process whereby seeds grow. They also realize that much of what happens after the seed is sown is out of their hands. They must trust that the rains will come as they always have, and they must likewise trust that after a while, all that they’ve been working for will come to fruition.

So what does this all have to do with the Christian faith? Well, for one, throughout the Bible, “seed” is likened to the Word of God itself. Jesus explained this in the parable of the sower, when He said very straightforwardly, “the seed is the word of God” (Luke 6:11). Every time that we hear God’s word spoken or taught, every time we read it, it’s like a seed that is being planted. And every time we share God’s Word with another person, we are likened to the ones who are planting that seed. Just as a seed has within it an incredible ability to bring forth life, so God’s Word has an even greater power, for it has within it the power to yield spiritual life and all manner of spiritual fruit. This “fruit of the Spirit” includes things like “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, (and) self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). But these things take TIME.

I know that over the years I’ve sometimes become very frustrated with the snail’s pace at which these fruits have become evident in my life. The truth is, sometimes I become frustrated that I’m not more gentle towards my wife, or more kind in my dealings with people. Sometimes I’m frustrated with my lack of self-control when it comes to temptations of various kinds. But truth be told, if I look back over the long-term, i.e., the years, as opposed to the moments, there has been spiritual growth. I’m certainly beyond where I would have been had God’s Word and God’s work not been a part of my life. I suspect that if you are a Christian, the same is true of you.

And so James would encourage us – be patient, keep at it, keep enduring. Not even the great apostle Paul thought that he was all that God would have him to be. Note his words from Philippians 3:12-14 where he talks of his desire to become more and more like Christ: “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Like the farmer, Paul patiently endured. He didn’t give up. And neither should we. And regardless of how fast our Christian growth seems to be progressing, know that one day very soon, Jesus is coming and “we know that when he appears we shall be like him” (1 John 3:2).

Likewise, the Lord would have us to be patient in the planting of the seed of His Word. As we teach our children, as we share the gospel with our family, friends, and neighbors, we should not be discouraged if we don’t see instantaneous results. No, just as the seed takes time to produce fruit in our lives, it will take time to produce fruit in theirs. You see, the Lord has told us, “My word that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11). Like the farmer, our role is only to plant the seed. What happens with that seed is up to the Lord to bring about.

So be patient. Wait on the Lord. Think about the farmer who waits so patiently for the fruit of the earth. Surely we should be at least as patient as we wait for the infinitely more precious fruit of the Spirit to be borne.