Job is mentioned just one time in the New Testament. James holds up Job as an example for us:

Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.  Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh…

Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience. Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.  (James 5:7-11 KJV)

More recent translations are fairly consistent in rendering these verses slightly differently, reflecting the distinction in the Greek between “patience” and “steadfastness” (or “perseverance” or “endurance”):

Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord.  See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains.  You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand…

As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.  (James 5:7-11 ESV)

Patience (waiting) is good, and we are exhorted to have it. But the example of Job goes beyond—not just waiting, but enduring, persevering, hanging on through trials. Sometimes terrible trials. Of the many examples James could have chosen, he picked Job as the model we should aspire to.

Now, some consider Job to be more an example of IMpatience than patience.  We ought not repeat the mistake of Job’s “friends”, and view him as a malcontent or complainer, which is sometimes done in spite of the Lord’s own testimony that Job was “blameless and upright”, and that he spoke what is true about God. (Job 1:1, 1:8, 2:3, 42:7)   While it’s true that Job needed to learn, and he emerged with far deeper understanding than he started with, this doesn’t overturn God’s view of Job.  God says to Job’s friends that they need to look to Job.  Really, James is simply restating what God had said.

Can we even imagine going through what Job did?  And even if our imagination is up to it, how confident are we that we could endure, persevere, be steadfast through it?  Despite his vexation, his bewilderment, his grief, his sickness that he thought he was dying of, he says, “I know my Redeemer lives.” (Job 19:25)

Yes, we’re called on by James to be patient.  Are we?  Am I?  I have to admit, I don’t really want to wait any more for the coming of the Lord.  I want it now!  And then, beyond patience, we are called on to look to the prophets and specifically to Job, as examples of steadfastness. The “patience of Job” goes way beyond just the wait.  I think it’s the difference between waiting for a bus to come, and having to hold onto the bus stop pole in a hurricane, never losing our grip. 

James mentions the farmers who have to wait for the rain.  They don’t know when it will come.  The wait can be anxious—but it is common to all.  Surely, James says, we can be as patient as the farmer. But far more than the wait common to us all, is when we must exhibit patience in suffering.  “We consider them blessed,” James says, if they steadfastly held on.  In the example of Job he says God is “compassionate and merciful”.  When Job was going through what he did, it would have been impossibly hard to think that he was blessed, that God was showing him compassion.  The same with Jeremiah, one of those prophets James mentions – see Jer 20:7-18 for example.  Yet he can say, “Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,” (Jer 17:7) in spite of everything.

We don’t really want to wait any more.  And we sure don’t want to have to endure what Job or Jeremiah did—both ended up cursing the day of their birth, wishing they’d never been born!  Yet, Job says, “I know my Redeemer lives and at the last he will stand upon the earth.”  And Jeremiah says, “Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”

Powerful examples indeed, and I don’t feel like I measure up.  However, the Lord is compassionate and merciful.  Not least in recording these examples for us.  “You have heard of the steadfastness of Job.  And you have seen the purpose of the Lord.”  Seeing that is, I guess, what can do the trick to keeping me hanging on.  Help me, Lord, to not lose sight of it!  To not lose my grip.

Love, Paul

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