Justice is coming

Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.

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. Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold,
the Judge is standing at the door.

—James 5:1-9 (ESV)

Be patient, James says, because you can trust God for what he’s going to do. Be patient in the face of suffering, be patient in hard times, be patient in dealing with injustice, because it’s all only temporary; the Lord is coming, and his justice is coming with him, and all will be made right. Be patient and strengthen your hearts, because the Lord is coming—and he is coming not only to bless us, but he is coming as the one who will judge the world. No one will be immune from his judgment, for even the best of us are sinners; this is why James says, “Don’t grumble against each other,” for if we let our frustrations in hard times turn us against each other, we are liable to judgment for that. Still, for those who follow Jesus, though the day of judgment will not leave us unscathed, it will be a time of joy nevertheless: it will be the time of our vindication, and the time when all that is wrong will be set right.

This is not to say, it should be noted, that anyone who is rich is by definition guilty of the things James talks about; there are those who have earned their wealth more or less honestly and justly (“more or less” being the best any of us ever manages in moral matters), and who have sought to use it for the good of others. There are those who are, however, to one degree or another, and who have the arrogance to believe that their wealth will keep them from being brought to justice. Similarly, there are many others in this world who are equally arrogant for other reasons. They may even be right—in this world; but God is a God of justice, and he sees everything and everyone, and no one can elude his justice forever.

We can be patient in dealing with trials and suffering, we can endure the injustice of this world—though not without doing what we can to create justice, but in the understanding that even our best efforts will be both flawed and limited—because we know that perfect justice and an end to all suffering are coming. As such, we are to work actively for what is good and right in every way that we can, trusting that God is coming, and when he comes, everything will be put right, and our efforts will not have been in vain. Like Paul, James encourages us not to lose heart in doing the work God has given us.

(Excerpted from “Trust in the Lord”)