Read James 5:13-20

Prayer Time

What is the right time to pray?

Happiness, trouble. Sickness, health. Sin, victory. James says to call on God in praise and petition in all the circumstances of life.

We’ve all read James’ confident assertion: the prayer offered in faith results in the Lord’s healing (v. 15). Yet we all have prayed for a sick person who was not healed.

What can we make of this? That we did not see the complete picture as God did? That some hidden sin blocked God’s power? That we will never understand some things?

But if we don’t pray, what alternative do we have for meeting life? If we get mad at God because He seems to ignore our prayers, blame Him for our sorry plight and stop praying, where will we turn for help? Will Satan give comfort? Good advice? I don’t think so.

James’ advice is to pray for each other. Straighten out misunderstandings quickly (v. 16). Remember that God has no pets. Even the great Elijah was no more loved of God than I am. The story to which James refers is recounted in 1 Kings 17:1 and 18:42-46, where we find the Holy Spirit granting Elijah unusual physical abilities and strength.

James’ parting shot is advice to be a soul winner (vv. 19-20). What higher aim could there be in life than winning someone to Christ thus saving him or her from eternal death?

Read James 5:7-12

He’s Coming   

Be patient and stand firm.

            James has just pointed out the problems that arise from misusing wealth. In these verses he has some advice for those who use their riches as an excuse for doing wrong: Take as your model the farmer who plants in faith and hope, patiently waiting for a crop. You do what the farmer does, says James. Be patient and stand firm. Why? Because the Lord is coming.

            It begs the question to point out that it is now 2,000 years later, and the Lord still hasn’t returned to earth as He promised. At the end of your life, in the moment of death, the Lord comes for you.

            James’ burden for practical Christian living is so strong that he can’t help himself.  Verse 9 is pure James, consistent with something he has already said two times before: don’t grumble and don’t judge others (2:8; 3:6).

            He lists two examples of lives lived in patient endurance. The prophets spoke in God’s name and were persecuted for their honesty (v. 10). Job persevered in trouble, finally making it out on the other side of a very long run of hardship (v. 11). The prophets and Job would agree with James: God is full of compassion and mercy. Verse 12 is pure James again. It isn’t really anything he has been talking about, but he tacks it on anyway. Don’t swear.  

            Good advice, don’t you think?

Read James 5:1-6

Eternal Facts  

James does not say it is wrong to be rich.

What he does say is that some truths are eternal, unchanged in the 2,000 years since James wrote his little book setting forth principles for successful Christian living. We can say pretty confidently that they will not change in the next 2,000 years either, if the world lasts so long.

James sets out five truths, realities for every time and place, as accurate today as the day James wrote them. He says:

 (1) Wealth will not spare you from misery (v. 2). Abraham and David are only two among many we could name whose wealth could not deliver them from terrible emotional suffering. 

(2) Self-centered hoarding will destroy your life (v. 3). How many persons do you know who are dying on the inside right this minute even as they collect things to show off to others on the outside?

(3) Dishonesty does not please God, even if you think you are above the law (v. 4).

(4) Self-indulgence is wrong, a lifestyle James poignantly likens to fattening yourself for slaughter (v. 5).
(5) It is wrong to condemn the innocent (v. 6). Killing the innocent has always been wrong. Cain killed Abel a long time before James’ generation. Innocents are still dying today for the same tiresome reasons: jealousy, robbery, petty quarrels, differences in religion, to name a few of the explanations the lawless give for moving against the guiltless. 

Read James 4:13-17

Facing Facts

“I’ll be there,” we promise lightheartedly. “Lord willing and if the creek don’t rise.”

            Everyone laughs at this ungrammatical throwback to another day when in many American rural communities the only way to get from farm to town involved fording a small stream of water. One big rain, and the creek rose too much to cross safely.

            We smile, but our half-serious saying embodies a strong truth. James points out what we all know and don’t want to face. We really don’t know what tomorrow holds. Our times are in God’s hands, like it or not.

            James’ warning is rooted in the principle Jesus taught in His parable of the man who planned bigger barns for future big crops. “You fool,” Jesus said. “Tonight your life will end” (paraphrase of Luke 12:20).

Jesus did not leave us in despair, however. He follows the story of the rich fool with an admonition not to worry about earthly things. God will take care of you (Luke 12:22-34).

James’ parting shot, on the other hand, is sobering. While James would have agreed that, as Jesus taught, God cares for His own, he emphasizes the other condition mentioned in our old saying, “Lord willing.” James says all we plan should be conditioned on God’s will. Furthermore, he says, if you know what you ought to do and don’t do it, you’re sinning (v. 17).