Doves On Distant Oaks

To Patiently Endure

One of the more interesting characters in the Bible is a man named Job. He probably doesn't need much introduction since he is fairly well known, even in secular circles. To summarize, a man of wealth and property is directly attacked by Satan, who wants to prove that his faith is wealth-based. Job loses his entire family, all his property, and his body becomes covered in boils. Nevertheless, he refuses to loose faith in God.

There is a well-know phrase taken from James 5:11, "... you have heard of the patience of Job …," which has became a popular saying. In truth, Job was not all that patient. He cried out that he wished he was never born, complained in bitterness, and even challenged God to explain what He was doing this to him—in essence blaming God.

When we think of patience, we think of calmly accepting what is happening to us without complaint. That was not Job. The Greek word, hupomone, has been more correctly translated as endurance, or persistence. But patience has a place in endurance. What that means is to have endurance to the very end, waiting for God to come through for you.

God expects us to never give up. I can attest to this personally. Two years after I received my liver transplant, my liver went into rejection, though no one knew that's what it was at the time. After two trips to the emergency room with increasing higher levels of bilirubin buildup (a sign of liver failure), the doctors could find no sign of rejection. After three weeks they eventually gave up. They told me they had turned over every rock they could think of but could find nothing wrong. I was sent home with the phrase, "Just live your life." Implied in that was to live it for as long as I had left. I was basically sent home to die.

When I first went in, I faced the challenge with great patience. I had complete trust in God that I would be healed. Every time they sampled my blood I was certain this was the time that would show what it was. I even faced it with all joy, as James instructed (James 1:2), giving testimony of my faith to whoever would listen. But as time stretched on and the doctors became more dumbfounded, I began to think I was not going to make it out of this challenge alive. I never lost faith in God Himself, but I did loose trust in his willingness to heal me, anticipating that He wasn't going to. I made my peace with that.

When I went back for the third and final time, at death's door, they finally found the rejection. I felt both gladdened by God's kind hand on my body, and ashamed to have lost trust in his ability to heal me, or to direct the doctors in the right direction. He may never have done so, but I should have kept my faith in his ability until my very last breath.

That is what God expects from us. Patience does, in fact go hand in hand with endurance. It's the patience to endure, even though we may get angry, demanding, despondent, and in despair. Never give up on God. We must never presume to know what God has in store for us.

Brothers and sisters, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

– James 5:10-11

Keywords: Patience, Endurance, Faith

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