The Alternative

Dr. Tony Evans: The longer it takes to get out of a trial, the greater the harvest at the end of the season. When the going gets tough, the tough go to their knees and say, “Lord, I want the harvest for my soul. I’m waiting on you.”

Guest (Male): This is The Alternative broadcast, featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans. Patience is one thing when you know the finish line is in sight, but when the struggle seems to have no end, waiting on God can feel like a whole different challenge. Today, Dr. Evans turns to James chapter five to show us how to remain faithful when life is testing our patience. Let’s join him.

Dr. Tony Evans: I want to try to explain it to us in a way that we will really grasp it because everybody here is going to face it, has faced it, and will face it. And that is adversity 101, when God allows things to come into your life for His sovereign purposes tied to our spiritual development.

He says three things in verses seven through 12 of James chapter five. First of all, in verses seven through nine, he describes the essence of patience. “Be patient,” he instructs. “Be patient,” in verse seven, he says. Yes, I know times are rough, times are hard, but I want you to be patient.

The Greek word for patient means to be long-fused, long-tempered. It means to set the timer of your life for extra time because your time and God’s time are often not the same time. He says be long-fused because when we’re going through a tough time, our fuse gets short. He says be patient, or long-fused, brethren, because he’s talking to Christians.

Notice what he says three times in this passage. “Until the coming of the Lord” in verse seven. “For the coming of the Lord is at hand” in verse eight. “The judge is standing right at the door” in verse nine. Until the coming of the Lord, the coming of the Lord is at hand, the judge is standing right at the door.

He says because of the imminent coming of Christ, don’t quit. The question is what does he mean by that? Does he mean that I’m waiting for Jesus to come back from heaven? If so, then I can never hope to have a solution to my problem on Earth. What does he mean?

Well, I would like to submit that he’s not talking about the second coming of the Lord when He comes for His saints as in the song. He is talking about the temporal coming of the Lord when He comes to deliver you out of the trial. The coming of the Lord here is not eschatological coming, which is one we should anticipate because that is ultimate coming, but intermediate coming. That is Him invading your situation to bring deliverance out of what you’re facing. Why? Because it’s time for the crop of your spiritual harvest in your life to grow. If you’re not planting any seeds in order that you might grow, then the growth will not occur even though you may have been waiting a long time for there has been no spiritual investment in the soil.

So what must you do? Verse eight, he tells you in verse eight to strengthen your heart. Strengthen your heart. In order to have patience, you must strengthen your heart. Why? Because a weak heart doesn't go very far in difficult trials. If your heart is weak, or to put it another way, if you have an anemic spiritual life, you’re not going to do too high. You’re not going to do high at all when this trial shows up.

You must, listen to me, strengthen yourself spiritually to handle the external pressure of the trials that attack you. Many of us fall apart in trials because we’ve not done any building up in the meantime. So when the trial hits us, it demolishes us. He says to strengthen your heart. That is why when Martha and Mary were—Mary was sitting at Jesus’ feet strengthening her heart. Martha was busy in the kitchen doing stuff. Jesus told Mary, "You've chosen the better part because what you do is going to help your heart."

Now what are you doing to help your heart? What are you doing to strengthen your walk with the Lord? Now this is where the local church comes in. For example, in Romans chapter one, verse 11, Paul says that the gifts of the body are there to strengthen the hearts of the believers. In First Thessalonians 3, verses 1 through 3, Paul sends Timothy to the church at Thessalonica, and his pastoral job was to strengthen the hearts of the saints there.

Then in First Thessalonians chapter 3, verses 10 through 13, Paul prays that the hearts of the believers would be strengthened. So it is the gifts of the body, believers ministering to believers, it is the pastoral leadership of the church, and it is the prayers of the saints that strengthen the hearts of the believers so that they are equipped for the spiritual trauma that they are inevitably going to face.

Now, he tells a negative in understanding patience. Here is what you can’t do: Do not complain, brethren. Hello, goodbye. Do not complain, brethren, against one another that you yourselves may not be judged because the judge is standing right at the door. Now this is deep. Watch what you say out of your mouth when you’re going through a trial. Watch what you’re talking and who you’re talking about when you’re going through a trial.

As children in a classroom look out the door to see whether the teacher is coming, verse nine says the judge is at the door. Here comes the judge. God is at the door of your life listening to your conversations. Don’t bother to throw a temper tantrum with God when you’re going through a trial. Do you have kids like that? If you have young kids who when they don’t get what they want, when they want it, go off.

"May I have some candy?" "No, not now." "But why?" "Because I said so." "But I want some candy, and I want it now!" "I said no." "But why wouldn't you give me some candy? You never give me no candy!" They just go off, start crying before you’ve even discussed it. Why? In hopes that a tantrum will get me to do what I just said I wasn't going to do. If you’re going through a trial, God wants you to handle that from the position of a strengthened heart, not as the position of a Christian throwing temper tantrums. There are things that you can praise God for, and if you spent more time praising than we do complaining, we'd get out of our trials faster.

Point two: The examples of patience. He says, “As an example, brethren, of suffering and patience,” because the two work together, “Take the prophets who spoke in the Lord's name.” They spoke in the name of the Lord. Elijah spoke in the name of the Lord, and Jezebel and Ahab came after him to take his life. But he spoke in the name of the Lord.

You will find God provided one supernatural intervention after another. The widow of Zarephath provided him food when he was down to his last meal. God came and provided him comfort. God told him about 7,000 that hadn't bowed their knee to Baal. God came and He would dip in. He didn't totally remove his trial, but He would zip in and give him encouragement as he waited to come out.

If you don’t complain, and if you look back at the prophets, you’ll see God did that. Daniel was being tried in an unjust situation by an ungodly man named Nebuchadnezzar, but God didn't keep him out of the trial of the lions' den. He just joined him in the lions' den. God may not take you from the trial, but if you’re responding right in the trial, that is the difference between a miserable Christian and a happy Christian when both are going through the same trial.

Why is one miserable and one happy? Because one has strengthened their heart, the other one hasn't. One is complaining, the other one isn't. One is looking to the Word in the life of the prophets to find encouragement, the other one is looking at folks on television to find encouragement. Who are you looking to? Jeremiah was the weeping prophet. He was put in a pit, but God would find people who He would bring along at strategic times even in the midst of his tears.

Joseph, 13 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit. Why? Because God was preparing him to be second in command in Egypt, and God wanted him to be prepared through 13 years of prison life. He praised God even in prison, and he was a witness for God even to the other ones he was associated with. Read Hebrews chapter 11, and it gives you the long list of people who even when they didn't see any solutions, even when they didn't see any answers, said, “I am going to follow You, Lord, and I’m going to honor You.”

Noah had to wait 120 years before he saw a cloud with rain in it come across the sky. He had to keep building an ark by faith, being criticized by that generation. Hannah had to wait a long time before she could get pregnant, and then God gave her a beautiful prophetic son in Samuel. Ruth had to wait a while before she got Boaz to be her husband, but God came through in the nick of time even after she had waited and was fulfilled in the Lord. Habakkuk had to wait before he got justice, but he didn't know God was preparing justice a long way away in a place he couldn't see to bring about the justice that he was praying for.

He says look at the Old Testament and you’ll discover they waited while they suffered, but they also witnessed. They were talking about the Lord. If you’re going through a hard time, talk about the Lord more. Praise the Lord more. Share Jesus Christ with others more.

Then he gives the quintessential illustration. Verse 11, “We count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord's dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and He's full of mercy.” Job is going through a trial. He says as bad as things are, there’s only one thing left, and that’s for me to die. He’d been stripped of everything else. He had sores from the bottom of his feet to the top of his head. So there’s only one thing left: to die.

Let me tell you why Job didn't die. You know why Job didn't die? Because God had His hand on the thermostat. He told Satan, "You can do this, this, this, this, but you can’t touch his life." Did you know in the trial you’re going through, God has His hand on the thermostat and it can only get as hot as He allows it to get? But Job didn't know how hot that would be. So guess what Job says? Job says, “Though He does the only thing left that can be done to me—slay me—even in that, I’m going to believe God knows what He’s doing.” Instead of complaining, that’s what God wants. He wants you to be honest, but then at the end of that honesty must come, “But though You slay me, though things even get worse than they are right now, I’m going to trust You because You’re God.”

Guest (Male): Dr. Evans will have more on the practice of patience when he returns in just a moment. Stay with us.

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The focus is on understanding and application, equipping you to put God's Word to work in the real world. Explore our growing list of courses covering many of the most important concepts in Christianity. The Tony Evans Training Center: a world of discovery anytime, anywhere.

Guest (Male): You can learn more and access the Tony Evans Training Center directly at tonyevanstraining.org. Now before we get back to today's lesson, I want to tell you about a special resource package we've put together to help you grow in your faith during life's difficult seasons. It includes Dr. Evans' 30-day devotional, Trusting God in Turbulent Times, a daily guide filled with scripture, encouragement, and practical challenges designed to help you find strength in God's faithfulness.

And along with the devotional, we'll also include all 16 full-length lessons in Tony's current two-volume series, James: Time to Grow Up. You can choose the audio collection on CD, USB flash drive, or instantly available digital download. We'd like you to have this complete package as our thank you gift when you make a contribution to support our work here on the air and around the world.

Get the details at tonyevans.org before this limited-time offer runs out. That's tonyevans.org, or call 1-800-800-3222 where a friendly member of our resource team will be happy to help with your request. I'll repeat that contact information after part two of today's lesson. Here's Dr. Evans again in James chapter five as he makes the biblical case for practicing patience.

Dr. Tony Evans: Finally, verse 12, the evidence of patience. “But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by earth or by heaven or with any other oath, but let your yes be yes and your no be no, so that you may not fall under judgment.” Or to put it another way, when you’re going through a trial, you may say stuff you don’t mean, like, “Lord, if You get me out of this this time...” Hello, somebody has said that. “If You get me out of this this time, I’ll serve You for the rest of my life. Lord, get me out of this sick bed this time, and I’ll never do that thing again.”

If God held you to those lies that we have told, the row would be empty. “Swear not” means to declare, to declare something that is beyond your scope to produce. Mary and Martha said when Lazarus their brother died, “Lord, if You would have just been here.” You know why Jesus wasn't there? He delayed intentionally, on purpose, didn't show up. Anybody in here feel like that, God has delayed and didn't show up, and He knew you were dying?

Let me tell you the secret of patience. Watch this now. The longer it takes to get out of a trial, when you’re strengthening your heart in it—let me say this again—the longer it takes, watch it now, to get out of a trial when you’re working your way through it the best you can, the greater the harvest at the end of the season.

The longer the trial, see, if God lets you out too soon, the fruit will be underdeveloped. If He lets you stay too long, then the fruit will be overly ripe. He has just the right amount of time to produce the greatest amount of fruit. You don’t want Him to come through too soon because the fruit won't be ripe. You don’t want Him to stay too long because then you’ll be too old to enjoy the fruit. You want to be like Caleb, who said, “Give me this mountain.”

It took him many years to get the mountain, but guess what he said? “I’m as strong now as I was when he told me I was going to get it. I didn't know how long it was going to take, but I know He kept the blessing for me and kept me for the blessing.” I’m here to tell you, wait on the Lord. That doesn't mean do nothing; it means do the right thing.

A bumper sticker one time read, “When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping.” And that's what a lot of Christians do. When the going gets tough, let me get out of here, take me to the mall, let me get this stuff off my mind. But when the Christian understands it and the going gets tough, the tough go to their knees and say, “Lord, I’m waiting on You. I want the harvest for my soul. I’m waiting on You.”

And I’m not going to swear and I’m not going to curse. I’m going to trust myself to a Father whose throne is in heaven, where Earth is His footstool, who counts the hairs on my head. And I’m going to evidence it in my speech, what’s in my life. I’m going to let what come out show that I’ve established my heart.

You say, “But what am I going to do, Pastor, because I’m still waiting? And I don’t know if He’s going to come through, if He’s going to come through in this life, how long it’s going to take.” Let me close with Isaiah 40. Here’s one good scripture to meditate on this week in our solemn assembly if you’re going through a trial. The last few verses in Isaiah 40 will be our closing verse. The Jews were on their way back, and they didn't know how they were going to make the long trip. They said, “Oh God, my way is hidden. The justice due me escapes my God.”

The prophet says, “Oh you don’t know. Have you not heard? The everlasting God, He's not limited by time. The creator God, He's not limited by power. Does not grow weary and tired. His understanding is inscrutable. You're wasting your time to try to figure it out.” But in the meantime, even though you can’t figure out what He’s doing, He gives strength to the weary and to him who lacks might He increases power. If you’re weak, He’ll give you more strength.

Though young people grow weary and tired and vigorous young men stumble badly, those who wait on the Lord—do what they’re supposed to do while they’re waiting for the rain to come—will get three things, one of three things. They will get new strength, not yesterday's strength; they’ll get new strength today because yesterday's strength is used up yesterday.

They will mount up with wings as eagles. For some of you, when your right time comes, God is going to stretch out eagle's wings, and He's going to swoop down with His intervention. He's going to supernaturally—you've been looking for a job—He's going to just swoop down and fly you to the job. That's eagle's wings because eagles would bear their babies up on their wings. For some of you, on the day you don’t go job hunting, you’re going to get a phone call. He's going to swoop down.

On the day that you give up ever hoping to be married, Don Juan is going to swoop in. For some of you, He’s going to intervene in a miraculous way, on eagle's wings. For others of you, He says you will run and not get tired. For some of you, He’ll swoop down and lift you out. For others of you, He's going to make you run. He's just going to run with you. He's going to say, “You keep on keeping on, but I'm going to jog with you.”

That's His interaction. Eagle's wings are His intervention, but when He runs with you, it's His interaction. You just running and wondering where this strength is coming from. You just single and having the best time of your life. Don’t want to get married because this run is sweet like it is. I like running by myself. This is a nice run. You just run until you change because you’re just having a good old time because He's running with you. That's His interaction. He's talking to you along the way. “Keep going. You're going to make it. You're going to get there.”

But then there's some of you who are just tired. You can’t run anymore. Well, He's got something for you too because He says they will walk and not become weary. Some of you will be too tired to run. You won't get God's intervention. You won't run alongside of God with interaction. You'll just get from Him inner action. That's where He comes in, and because you're too tired to run, He'll just walk with you. He just put His arm around you. “I know you're tired. Let's just walk. You've been running for Jesus a long time. Let's just walk for a while right now. Let's just walk.” But you know in either case, it's new strength. You’re going through a trial, be patient. That doesn't mean do nothing; it means plant seeds, but you let Him determine the latter and early rains.

Guest (Male): If you're just now coming to the realization that you don't have the power to keep living on your own strength, it's time to turn to Jesus and ask Him to give you a whole new life, full of hope and a future that lasts forever. Find out more by visiting tonyevans.org. On the home page, look for the text link at the top of the page that simply says Jesus. There, Tony explains what it means to become a Christian and will help you walk through the process of putting your life in the hands of the one who loves you most. Be sure to check it out; that's tonyevans.org.

And that web address is the same place where you can take advantage of that special resource package I mentioned earlier. You can request all 16 full-length messages in Tony's two-volume series, James: Time to Grow Up, along with his 30-day devotional book, Trusting God in Turbulent Times. They're our thank you gift when you make a contribution to support Tony's ministry. Together, these resources will help you understand what it means to grow in spiritual maturity and remain anchored in God when life gets difficult.

Get the details at tonyevans.org, or call us at 1-800-800-3222. Once again, that's 1-800-800-3222, or online at tonyevans.org. All the electrical outlets in the world won't do you any good if you never plug anything in. Well, Dr. Evans says there's a spiritual parallel to that problem, one that can leave Christians living far below what God intends. Be sure to listen tomorrow to learn how to access the power God has made available to each of us.