Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Good morning, Zane.

We picked up your cousin from New York, Joanna, at the airport on Tuesday morning. Then, for yesterday, we put together a charter fishing trip out of Depoe Bay. It made for a very full day—having to depart the house about 3am. We caught our limits of Rockfish, but were a bit short on Ling Cod. Of course we had fish-n-chips last evening. Good eats! Maybe I’ll stick on one photo.

Lots on the agenda today too. I’ve already been out stacking logs with my old track hoe as a friend just dumped a big load of logs in our driveway. I’ll need to get them sawn up soon.

Have a great day. Love and prayers—Tua/Ray.

Can you imagine a farmer who plants alfalfa in his fields in the spring, but then changes his mind a few weeks later, plows up his fields and plants corn?! Then a couple weeks later, he hears that the market price for mint is up very high, so he plows up his fields again and plants mint. That’s crazy! By that time he would just about be guaranteed of not having any profitable crop at all! He certainly could not survive as a successful farmer. This guy’s actions would be even more ludicrous if he began to boast around town about the yacht he was going to buy with the huge profits from his mint crop!

James gives us a terrific lesson in life and godliness, pointing out that we are all like farmers. In the fields of our future we plant ideas, plans, hard work, and the Gospel. But we are as powerless to make those seeds grow to maturity and success as the farmer is powerless to force his crops to yield. He does what he can, and leaves what he can’t to God. James declares that it’s all a matter of determining a course (what is good and important), being patient, and standing firm. It’s all linked to the quality of perseverance toward a goal.

Two more examples of patience, perseverance, and standing firm are given in this passage.

1. There are the prophets. “Brothers, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered” (vv. 10-11).
2. Then there is the example of Job. “You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy” (v. 11).

One little phrase in verse 7 catches my attention: “…the farmer waits.” It prompts my thinking back to the word “wait” as used in the King James Version of Isaiah 40:31. “But they that WAIT upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint”. What a promise! But it certainly does not convey the idea of waiting as one does in a long line at the bank, but WAITING as a clerk or waiter does with a customer. A good waiter understands that his function is to serve and please. If you and I, like the farmer, like the waiter, will WAIT on the Lord in this sense, a good crop is guaranteed. (Consider Romans 8:28, 1 Corinthians 15:58, and Galatians 6:9 again.)

Let’s conclude by giving attention to a familiar passage in Psalm 37. It comes to mind as good supportive material for our reading in James. “Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass” (Psalm 37:3-5, KJV).