Wed Inspiration

Morning Inspiration with Pastor Merritt

James, the Lord’s brother, wrote perhaps the most practical book on life from a Christian perspective in the New Testament and one of his last lessons is on patience.

"Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near." (James 5:7-8)

It is interesting that James illustrates patience by giving us the picture of a Palestinian farmer. Palestinian farmers had to wait on two different seasons of rains or else they could starve to death. First they had to wait on the autumn rains, which would make planting much easier and seed germination possible. Then they had to wait until the spring rains to harvest so as to maximize the amount of grain to be reaped. The farmer realized that unless God’s process was followed there would be no harvest.

What is true of plants is also true of people. Impatience is when you decide to take matters into your own hands. You try to rush the harvest and wind up ruining it instead! When you do, you wind up taking the wrong job, marrying the wrong person, making the wrong decision.