The General Epistle of James 4:13 – 5: 11

October 24, 2022

13 Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:

14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

15 For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.

16 But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.

17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.

2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.

3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

4 Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.

5 Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.

6 Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.

7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.

8 Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.

9 Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door.

10 Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.

11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.

Verse 4:15 reminded me of Orthodox Jews; they thank God every time before they eat or drink anything in a day – all day long. How many of us remember to say grace before dinner? I’m a big failure in this respect My mom and dad taught us a thanksgiving that we said before dinner each night – “We give thee thanks, almighty God, for the graces and blessings which we are about to receive through the bountiful hands of Christ our Lord. Amen”. My Aunt Georgie and Uncle Willie’s dinner prayer was, “Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest and let these gifts to us be blessed. Amen”. How is it that I can remember these prayers – learned as a tot at the dinner table – but can’t remember to say either one before I eat? Having written this, I’m going to make a concerted effort to say grace before each meal. Pray for me; I’m a fallen and broken person.

By the way, in verse 5:11, these words, “… and have seen the end of the Lord; …” means the ‘fullness’ of the Lord. As we well know, there is no ‘end’ of or to the Lord.

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