Day 38 – James 5:7-11
The Patience of the Husbandman
Scripture Reading – James 5:7-11
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.
James 5:7 KJV
Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.
James 5:8 KJV
Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door.
James 5:9 KJV
Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.
James 5:10 KJV
Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
James 5:11 KJV
Scripture Review
James compares patience to a husbandman waiting for the precious fruit of the earth. The farmer does real work, but he cannot pull a harvest out of the ground by force. He waits for the early and latter rain. Biblical patience is not lazy surrender; it is steadfast obedience under God’s timing.
James points to the prophets and to Job, then reminds us that the Lord is “very pitiful, and of tender mercy.” Joseph’s waiting belongs in that company of endurance. The prison years did not mean God had become indifferent. A seed under soil can look buried and still be alive, but Joseph’s story is stronger than that familiar picture: God was not only preserving Joseph; He was arranging Pharaoh’s need, the butler’s memory, and the famine’s approach.
Human delay, injustice, and forgetfulness meant that Joseph remained confined long after an apparent opportunity for release had come.
God meant to establish Joseph’s heart and align many unseen circumstances for a deliverance larger than Joseph’s personal freedom.
What this asks of me
I need patience that keeps doing right. Waiting does not excuse bitterness, idleness, or unbelief. I can establish my heart because the coming of the Lord draweth nigh and because His character has not changed. Tender mercy may be at work long before I can see the fruit above the ground.
Consider
- What faithful work belongs to me while I wait for what only God can bring?
- Has delay made me question God’s mercy rather than examine my patience?