If you are going through difficulty try being a farmer

The news today is that our wealthiest family in the UK with an estimation of £37 billion have been found guilty of exploitation and illegal employment and are starting prison sentences of four and a half years. The workers they brought from India were not paid as much as the family dog. They were paid £7 to work 18 hour days and had their passports confiscated. Two thousand years after James was writing this letter the rich are still exploiting the poor. “What should you do when it all goes wrong? When you have been hard done to, what action should be taken?” James addresses those people at the hands of the abusive rich people and he answers the questions.

 “Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. ⁸ You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. ⁹ Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!” (James 5 v 7-9)

See how the farmer waits … A farmer does not give up when his crop does not come to harvest immediately. He keeps on working even when the crop cannot be seen at all.

The waiting and need for endurance we have in the Christian life is very much like the waiting of the farmer.

They wait looking for the return on their work.

They wait what might seem a long time to non-farmers.

They wait without standing still, there are other things to do.

They wait without allowing the anxiety of weather patterns and disease to overwhelm them.

They wait because there is no other thing that can be done.

It’s not easy this thing we call patience is it? Who has any time for patience? Today we live in a world where everything comes to us at speed, and we’ve lost the art of waiting.

The word ‘patience’ doesn’t mean to ‘keep smiling’ under duress. It is rather a conquering patience with anything that life can throw at you knowing that God will always turn even evil into good!           It is to hold out under trial before giving into the passion of retaliation. It is to pause long enough to find wisdom.

Of course the situation we are reading of calls for a patience that is so much more challenging than waiting in a supermarket queue. Today around the world Christians are needing to find patience that seems beyond their capability. Jesus said we will have trouble in this world. But to take heart because he has overcome the world.

The Apostle Paul tells us, “We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body”. 2 Corinthians 4:10

A Saviour is one who intervenes, who steps in and rescues from either physical or spiritual suffering. We carry His name and His presence in our lives today. We may not have done much in our lives but He has done it all!

Believe that your Saviour can rescue you from your enemy’s hands: “My times are in your hands; deliver me from my enemies” Psalm 31:15. This ought to be our prayer.

So in whatever affliction you are experiencing stay where you are today. There is in the suffering a hidden mystery. It is Jesus Himself. The impatient miss Him. They want it over with. They want to move on and move out. And in doing so they miss the fellowship of Jesus in the sufferings.

Being patient doesn’t mean you do nothing. It is not limbo. You are not wasting any time. You are active. Try being a farmer today.