Be Patient • James 5:7-10 • Sunday, December 14, 2025

Patience in the Midst of Suffering: Finding Light at the End of the Tunnel

How patient are you when life gets hard? If someone asked you to rate yourself on a scale of one to ten, where would you land? For most of us, the honest answer hovers somewhere between a three and a five. We're not naturally patient people, especially when we're hurting.

The book of James opens with a powerful command: "Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord." These simple words carry profound weight when we understand their context. James writes to people experiencing injustice—economic hardship, social oppression, and systemic suffering. His message isn't about minor inconveniences; it's about enduring real pain with supernatural patience.

The Many Faces of Suffering

Suffering comes in countless forms. Physical pain attacks our bodies. Mental anguish clouds our minds. Grief overwhelms our hearts. We suffer from our own sins and their consequences. We suffer from the sins of others. Disease strikes without warning. The devil actively works to increase our misery. Financial struggles, relationship breakdowns, loss, loneliness—the list goes on.

When suffering hits, our natural response is often wrong. Like someone holding their breath during physical pain, we tense up spiritually and emotionally. We forget to breathe. We forget to look beyond the present moment. We lose sight of the truth that this suffering, however intense, will not last forever.

The Farmer's Patience

James uses the image of a farmer waiting for harvest: "See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it until he receives the early and the late rains." At first glance, this seems like an ideal picture of patience. But anyone who knows farmers knows they're not naturally patient people. They worry about rain, about drought, about timing, about a thousand variables beyond their control.

Yet despite their anxiety, farmers understand something crucial: there's a process that cannot be rushed. Seeds need time to germinate. Crops need the right conditions to grow. The harvest comes in its season, not before. The farmer's work is to plant, tend, and trust that the rains will come at the right time.

God has a plan through our suffering. He has a plan in the midst of it. We need to trust that plan, even when we can't see the full picture.

Establishing Our Hearts

"Establish your hearts," James writes. How do we establish something? Through repetition. A tradition becomes a tradition not by doing something once, but by doing it over and over again until it becomes part of who we are.

We establish our hearts the same way—through repetition of spiritual practices. Reading God's Word. Gathering with other believers. Remembering our baptism. Receiving communion. These repeated acts ground us in truth. They anchor our hearts in God's love, mercy, and grace. They remind us of our salvation through Jesus Christ.

When suffering comes, an established heart has a foundation to stand on. Without that foundation, we drift into dangerous territory.

The Danger of Grumbling

"Do not grumble against one another," James warns. In our suffering, how easy it is to blame someone else. We point fingers at leaders, at family members, at circumstances, at God Himself. Watch the news for ten minutes and count how many times someone is blamed for suffering.

Throughout history, leaders have been deposed because impatient people grumbled and blamed them for hardship. But who truly deserves blame for our suffering? The devil certainly does. We ourselves do, for our own sins. The broken world we live in does. But rarely is it as simple as pointing to one person and saying, "This is your fault."

The Example of the Prophets

James points us to the prophets as examples of suffering and patience. Why did the prophets suffer? Because people didn't want to hear the truth. This hasn't changed. Around the world today, Christians face persecution and death because people don't want to hear about Jesus Christ. They don't want to hear about repentance. They don't want to hear about sin. They don't want the truth.

The prophets remained steadfast despite opposition, imprisonment, and death. They spoke truth regardless of the cost.

The Steadfastness of Job

Then there's Job, whose story of suffering stands as one of the most profound in Scripture. Job lost everything—his wealth, his children, his health. The devil wanted Job to curse God and die. The devil wanted to destroy Job's faith.

Does the devil want the same for you? If the answer is yes, then suffering will be part of your life. The devil uses suffering as a tool to separate us from God.

Job questioned God. He asked "Why?" He struggled to understand his circumstances. And that's okay. Honest questions aren't sin. What matters is that Job remained steadfast. He didn't curse God. He didn't abandon his faith.

Why Jesus Suffered

Here's the heart of everything: Jesus suffered because of love. He suffered because He didn't want us to suffer forever. He suffered to deliver us from the consequences of the devil's schemes, from our own sin, from the brokenness of this world.

Jesus wanted to save us—to pull us out of suffering and give us real life. Eternal life. Spiritual life filled with peace and everlasting joy in His presence. He accomplished all of this through His own suffering.

When Jesus cried out "It is finished" from the cross, He meant it. The work was complete. The price was paid. The victory was won.

Light at the End of the Tunnel

When we look at the cross, we must also see what lies beyond it: light at the end of the tunnel. Whatever suffering you're experiencing—whatever frustration, trial, hardship, or difficulty you face—there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Because Jesus came into this world, there is light. Because Jesus rose from the dead, there is light. Because Jesus promised to return, there is light.

Another word for this light is hope. Biblical hope isn't wishful thinking; it's confident expectation based on God's promises. We can have positive expectations because Jesus has already defeated suffering's ultimate power.

This doesn't mean suffering disappears now. It doesn't mean life becomes easy. It means that in the midst of suffering, we can breathe. We can look beyond the present moment. We can trust that God is working His purposes, even when we can't see them.

Be patient. Establish your hearts. Remember the prophets. Remember Job. Remember Jesus. And remember that your suffering, however real and painful, is not the end of your story.

(Content generated by PulpitAI from sermon transcript)