¹⁰As an example, brethren, of suffering and patience, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. ¹¹We 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 is merciful.

Patience is the hallmark of those who remain faithful to the Lord while they endure suffering. Job is the quintessential example. James makes passing reference to “the prophets” without mentioning any names. We may consult Hebrews 11 for specific examples, with the summation, “of whom the world was not worthy” (Heb. 11:38). James calls them “blessed.”

The connection between suffering and blessing is found throughout Scripture. We see Jacob returning from twenty years of self-imposed exile from the Promised Land of his father and grandfather (Abraham and Isaac), struggling with God until he receives a blessing. This struggle leaves him lame for the rest of his life (Gen. 32). We see Peter and James, after being flogged for preaching Jesus, as they leave their ordeal, “. . . rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name” (Acts 5:41).

James centers on Job as the prime example, and indeed the book of Job outlines the facts of his suffering, his arguments with his three “friends,” and most importantly, his attempted conversations with God. The story begins with Satan trying to gaslight God: God, you are protecting and blessing him because You know he will curse You to Your face if You don’t. The book shows how Job wrestles deeply and even curses the day he was born. His wife also tells him to curse God and die. Yet he never does; he passes the test. True, God rebukes him for his repeated insolence and complaining, but he does not curse God.

Some may feel that was a low bar for Job to pass, but any realist who has suffered unrelenting tragedies and misery as did Job, would think it was rather a high bar. Which of us, if we had to endure what Job did, would not be tempted to burst out in our pain with cursing against God? Yet, as tragic as Job’s situation was, the blessing God was going to provide would enormously eclipse all that he endured.

The apostle Paul said it this way: “For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison . . .” (2 Cor. 4:17). So James writes, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing . . .” (James 1:2) “. . . that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful” (James 5:11b). As counterintuitive as it sounds, blessing comes to us via the path of suffering.

Lord, against the pain of my struggles, I continue to believe You are good, compassionate, and merciful. You are my joy and my blessing.