Waiting for the Lord

Scripture Reading: James 5:7-12, Hebrews 11:32-40, 1 Peter 4:7-11

On our last trip to Dollywood, I was advised to get a disability fast pass because I’m type 1 diabetic. Getting that pass was a reminder of my current pain, but it also offered hope, a promise that I wouldn’t have to wait more than a few minutes for any ride.

Don’t we all wish life worked like that—that we could get a fast pass to bypass every long wait? But life is not an amusement park. No badge or wristband lets us bypass the pain, struggle, or delay. We cannot curate a life without waiting. James 5:7–11 poses the question: How do we become people who wait with real hope?

James offered three images of formation: a farmer, the prophets, and Job.

The farmer “waits for the precious fruit of the earth and is patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains” (James 5:7). Though the farmer can work, the rain is out of his control. This kind of waiting reveals what our hearts are like when we cannot force a result. Our hearts are the key to patient endurance, so James told his readers to strengthen them (v.8). In this patient endurance, the source of our hope is believing the truth that the “Lord’s coming is near” (v.8) and “the judge stands at the door” (v.9).

While the prophets and Job (vv.10–11) show the heart posture we need, community is one of the main contexts that develops this kind of heart in us. Indeed, waiting calls for patience, but how often does it beget impatience in us? James warned, “Brothers and sisters, do not complain about one another, so that you will not be judged” (v.9). Our speech as we wait reveals where our trust lies. Grumbling isn’t an “unwelcomed” part of waiting; God anticipates it. But our grumbling can become a way we try to regain control when we feel helpless.

In our complaining, we can move away from trusting God’s timing and attempt to shift the authority back to ourselves. When we are pressed in the wait, our words show whether we are resting in His sovereignty or fighting for our own. And to become a person of love in the waiting, we need to rest fully on God.

At the end of the day, we want to know the wait is worth it. We want assurance that our endurance matters. James reminds us, “we count as blessed those who have endured” (v. 11). The end of our waiting is better than a ride at Dollywood, and through the waiting the Spirit’s power helps us become a person of love—more like Jesus, the blessed man who endured for our sake when He didn’t have to.

Written by Ryne Brewer