Brothers and sisters, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.
James, remember, is talking to fellow Jews. Jews, by nature, are innately historical. I know of no other race or tribe that has such an extensive, detailed and authentic written history of their existence. They also seem to have a perverse inclination to record their most embarrassing moments and worst impulses.
God has impressed on them a need to know who they are, and so even Jews who do not believe in a judgment or an afterlife still know their history. It is a long history of failure. Failure to listen to God.
In the early years of Israel’s existence, God spoke directly with people. He spoke with Abraham, Jacob, and Moses. After the death of Moses, God spoke through the priests and the Urim and Thummim. Then came the time of the Judges and after them the time of the Kings of Israel. It was during the years that Israel was ruled by kings that God used prophets to speak to Israel’s leaders.
Unfortunately for the prophets of old, they were never sent to a king to say, “Great job!” Usually, their message was a correction or a warning. Kings tended to be rather spoiled and were unused to being corrected. They did not like being told, “No!” As a result, prophets were beaten, mocked, chased off, and sometimes killed. Being a prophet wasn’t a job that people were lining up to do.
Now, I should clarify that I am writing about authentic prophets of God. There were a lot of other prophets who made a living by telling the kings what they wanted to hear. Those kinds of prophets usually got along well in life and had pretty safe jobs. The real ones, not so much.
Through all of their suffering, the real prophet of God had to endure rejection, pain, embarrassment, torture, and occasionally, death. When James writes, “Take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord,” he is referring to people who endured a lot of pain.
Application: When you read about the Old Testament prophets think of their suffering as a comparator for our suffering today.
Food for Thought: How does our suffering today compare to the suffering of God’s prophets and then to that of Jesus (God) Himself? Is there a pattern here?
We are promised to suffer persecution if we follow Jesus (2 Timothy 3: 12). Jesus said we should rejoice when persecuted due to our reward in heaven – for so the prophets before us were persecuted (Matthew 5: 10 – 12). So there is a pattern of persecution we should anticipate as followers of Jesus. Yet, in the US, the persecution we have experienced is a fraction of what the prophets experienced or what the persecuted church in other countries experience. We should be prepared for further persecution in our future.
Thank you, Rich!
James, himself, begins his letter with these words:
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds…“
I became a christian at 33 as a result of God revealing His truth to me through prayer and bible study with a group of strong christian men. I wanted to share this great gift and went immediately to my parents. As I told them about Jesus, my father began to cry, as huge tears ran down his face he said, “ I have worked my entire life to keep you out of church, and now you are a blanked-blank christian! ” I quietly folded my bible and said goodbye. As time went by, my two brothers and sister joined in and I made the choice to remain in Gods family without a physical family. God has required I make this decision over and over as I grow in faith.
I agree with Rich, and believe our God does also. We all should be prepared for further persecution in the future. God knows this and begins our preparation with little things, Paul, believing Christ whom he persecuted, went to Damascus to humbly ask a disciple of Jesus to heal his eyesight. Paul died to his physical family that day, so he could live in his spiritual family, and began his journey in the Kingdom of God. We know how Pauls faith, testing and ministry grew.
God will never give us more than we can handle which means we can handle anything He allows. He starts with little things which become bigger as we grow in faith. Call to Him, deny the world and ourselves and as we increase in faith through victories, and become prepared for the next test which is coming.
Ron,
Thank you so much for sharing this story. It is a powerful testimony to God’s hand on you and your life, and to the truth that we all have to choose between this world and God.
Hey Jeff,
We are so greatly blessed to have been called and empowered by our God. He does everything as we trust in Him.
Thank you Ron. This truly blessed my heart. Your faith and your story give glory to God. Thank you!
👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Thank you Ron for sharing your faith with me.