“Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth and has long patience for it until he receives the early and latter rain. Be you also patient; establish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draws nigh” (James 5:7-8).
Patience is not just waiting on something, but to wait in an expectant, hopeful, confident attitude. It also means to bear up under pressure and not to cave. We have no choice but to wait for the Lord to come. But how we wait and what we do while we are waiting is up to us.
James said that the key is to establish your heart. This means to fix, to make steadfast. It is not to be moved, unsettled, upset, or anxious. David put it this way in Psalm 112:7-8: “He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord. His heart is established; he shall not be afraid.”
In Luke 21, Jesus gave us predominant signs of the end times, intensely tumultuous and troubling. He warned: “Men’s hearts failing for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the face of the earth; for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.” (vs.26).
The powers of heaven refer to “the spiritual wickedness in the heavens and the rulers of the darkness of this age” which Paul described in Ephesians 6:12. Satanic realms in the heavens are being stirred up! Demonic activity is on the rise on the earth, and there are and will be greater attacks on people—both unbelievers and believers. There is a great warfare going on, and the spirit world is in full war mode.
As we near the coming of the Lord, this will intensify, and men’s hearts will be full of despair. If you are sinner, you should be afraid! You should be scared out of your mind!
But if you’re a righteous saint—do not dismay! Do not be alarmed.
James said: Do not dismay in the delay! Be patient until the coming of the Lord!
Establish your heart! Get a grip on your emotions! Keep the faith! Keep yourself in the love of God! Be patient! And don’t dismay!
Jesus said in Luke 21:28: “And when you see these things begin to come to pass… (not completed) “Then”—when they begin to come to pass—“Look up, and lift up your head; for your redemption draws nigh.” Your Redeemer is on the way!
Hebrews 10:35-36: “Cast not away therefore your confidence which has great recompense of reward. For you have need of patience, that after you have done the will of God, you might receive the promise.”
This pertains to any promise, but specifically the promise of the Lord’s coming:
“For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come and not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them that draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul” (vv.37-39).
We live and walk by faith (1Cor.5:7). We don’t dismay in the delay. We don’t draw back, but we believe to the saving of the soul, that is, our final salvation. Peter described it:
“Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls” (1Pet.1:9).
This states that believers who have even done the will of God, led a righteous life in expectation of Jesus’ coming, can reach a point and come to a place when they cast away their confidence.
In the delay, they dismay. And in their dismay, they disobey.
Don’t Disobey in Your Dismay
Matthew 24 is in sync with Luke 21. In referring to the Lord’s coming, Jesus said: “Watch therefore, for you know not what hour the Lord does come. If the good man of the house knew when the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have allowed his house to be broken up. Therefore, be you also ready: for in such an hour as you think not the Son of Man comes” (vv.42-44).
Jesus continued this teaching by saying that He is coming for faithful and wise servants who are busy and obedient in the work of the Lord. He spoke of the servants of God—not unbelievers.
But the evil servant says: “My Lord delays his coming.” He did not say the Lord, but my Lord. This denotes relationship.
He did not say that he is never coming—but he has delayed his coming. This subtle difference can be disastrous. He may not realize his own change of heart. Because he becomes weary in the wait—because of the delay, he begins to dismay.
Jesus said that he becomes carnal, gluttonous, and drunken with the worldly. He loses his temper and smites his fellow servants—He attacks others and falls into disobedience.
In the delay, he dismays, and in his dismay, he disobeys.
Most Christians know Jesus is coming back, and all the signs say that He is coming soon. But because of the delay, some have become disillusioned, even to the degree of dismay.
When we start trying to rationalize God’s delays, or we start trying to help out God in speeding things up, we can cause problems that God never intended for us.
Consider Abraham and Sarah: Genesis 15-16
God never intended them to have Ishmael, but that’s what they got when they grew impatient in the delay of God’s promise to give them a son. First, Abraham said to God: “Seeing I go childless, and my servant Eliezer is faithful, let him be my heir.” But God said No! He would give him an heir from his own loins—a biological son. Then Sarah reasoned that since she could not have a baby, her maidservant could bear a child for her, and he would be her husband’s biological son. Sounds reasonable. But it was not God’s plan. He did not want the son of promise to be born of a bondwoman.
When the delay continued, they both presumed there must be another way and created Plans B & C. Ishmael was out of Abraham’s loins, but he was not the son of promise and the one to be the heir of the messianic line. In the end, Abraham’s heart was broken when he had to send Ishmael away, because he loved his son. But after 25 years, God gave Abraham and Sarah, Isaac, the son of promise. Tragically, the animosity that grew between Ishmael and Isaac continues to this day, and its death toll has been astronomical.
The Golden Calf: Exodus 32
Not long after God brought the Israelites out of Egypt’s bondage, Moses went up on Mount Sinai to meet with God and receive His covenantal law written with the finger of God. He was gone over a month.
“And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron and said, Up! Make us gods! For as this Moses, the man that brought us out of Egypt, we know not what has become of him” (vs.1). Can you hear the disdain in their words?
In the delay, they lost faith in the promise. They grew anxious, restless, inpatient, and they fell into dismay. In their unrest, they even induced Aaron to join them, and they quickly went from dismay to disobey.
“We are ready to go onward to the Promised Land, and we want to go now!”
Tired of waiting on Moses, they made a molten calf out of their gold jewelry. Hailing it as the god that brought them out of Egypt, they offered burnt offerings, eating, drinking, and committing whoredom in their frenzy.
Incredulously, even Aaron from the tribe of Levi, fell for it. As Moses’ second-in-command, he should have rebuked them. Only the tribe of Levi, his brethren, did not join in. Had he stood his ground, they would have been his allies.
Moses said, “You have sinned a great sin.” He ground the golden calf into powder, mixed it with water, and made them drink it. What a price to pay for their impatience in the delay!
Saul at Gilgal: 1Samuel 13
Israel’s first King, Saul, had only reigned two years when he made a fatal mistake that cost him his crown. It was spawned by the prophet Samuel’s delay in coming to Gilgal to offer the sacrifice before the battle.
Israel had been at war with the Philistines who had amassed 30,000 chariots, and 6000 horsemen. Many Israelites were hiding in caves for fear. Samuel instructed Saul to wait for his arrival in seven days, and he would come and offer sacrifice to God on behalf of the Israeli army. But when the seven days came, and Samuel had not yet arrived according to the set time he had appointed, Saul became impatient.
In the delay, the people became restless and scattered. This was a test of Saul’s leadership. It was his job as king to calm the people, rehearse the words of Samuel to them, and encourage them not to dismay. Instead, he took it upon himself to offer the sacrifice. He was not anointed to be a prophet or a priest. He was anointed to be a king.
But because of the delay, he allowed the pressure of the circumstances and the people’s impatience to cause himself to act in haste, pride, and presumption.
As soon as he finished offering the sacrifice, Samuel came. Just waiting a few more minutes would have saved him from disaster and preserved his dynasty. When Samuel asked him why he had disobeyed the word of the Lord, Saul replied: “I forced myself to offer the burnt offering, because you did not come at the appointed time.”
He dismayed in the delay, and in his dismay, he disobeyed.
Samuel’s rebuke: “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the Lord, which he commanded you. For the Lord would have established your kingdom forever. But now your kingdom shall not continue: The Lord has sought him a man after his own heart.”
That Man Was David the Shepherd & Psalmist
The Book of Psalms is rich with David’s words of faith and courage. Some even start off in the doldrums, but by the end, they exult with irrepressible hope in God’s faithfulness.
Psalm 27 is one of his best. It ends with this inspiring exclamation:
“I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living” (v.13).
Our view of God is a huge factor in how we live our lives and how we respond to delays and setbacks: Do we see him as our Father? Do we see Him as a Good God? Because if we do, we don’t faint in the delay! We don’t fall into dismay in the delay. We don’t cast away our confidence. Rather, we believe, and we keep on believing. And our faith is rewarded.
“Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord” (v.14).
In the delay—pray. Jesus said, “Men ought always to pray and not to faint” (Lk.8:18). Then wait on the Lord—Wait with expectation to see the goodness of the Lord. And while you wait, He will strengthen your heart to go the distance and not dismay in the delay.
“Fear not, for I am with you. Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; yea, I will help you. I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness” (Isaiah 41:10).
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