JamesSample

In this passage, James is comparing followers of God to farmers. Farmers are waiting for the rain to come down on their harvest. Notice that they don’t question or doubt whether or not the rain will actually come. As believers, we are also waiting. Waiting on the return of Jesus. We can be confident and trust completely that Jesus WILL return, in the same way that the farmers trust completely that there will be rain. Even though the farmers are waiting for the harvest, they don’t sit back and do nothing. They go out every day and tend to the field and prepare the way. We can stand firm on the fact that Jesus will return, but that doesn’t mean we should sit back and just wait for Him. There is so much work that can be done to advance His Kingdom in the meantime, and that’s what we’re here for. Work faithfully to build His Kingdom, because He WILL be coming soon.

James then goes on to talk about what preparing the field looks like. He doesn’t say that it will always be easy. Jesus basically guaranteed this when he said in John 16:33 that “In this world you will find trouble,” but we must lean on our undeniable faith in God and His promises to guide the way through them because the latter half of that verse says “But take heart! I have overcome the world.” When things do go wrong, we can’t “grumble” and blame everyone around us. This is destructive and leads us down a path of regret and ineffectiveness. Look for the light in the darkness. We know we can trust that God will prevail through our circumstances because He’s done it before. Job lost everything he had and was filled with sorrow, but he turned to the Lord and His faith grew deeper than ever before, and God pulled him through to the other side. Spend time today preparing the way for the glorious harvest that is Jesus Christ, and don’t get discouraged if the waiting doesn’t look like you expected it to.

Prayer points:

• Pray that God will reveal opportunities for you to further His Kingdom and prepare the way for Him.
• Pray for fresh perspective and vision from God when you face hard times.