Lesson 30: Doing Right when Wronged (part 1)
 Read James 5:7-12 – www.bible.com/bible/59/jas.5.esv

God hates retaliation. He sees it take place between husband and wife, parents and children, brothers and sisters, employees and employers, and church members. So what are we to do when we’ve been wronged? Walk away. Walking away sounds cowardly doesn’t it? Our nature prompts us to fight back. We think revenge is sweet, but that’s only temporary before it becomes bitter.

God’s supernatural alternative – 1 Peter 2:18-20. Enduring good and gentle treatment is easy. Enduring suffering that comes from sin is nothing extraordinary. However enduring unfair treatment with patience is a novelty. When we respond in such a supernatural way God is pleased. Peter says so twice (v 19 – thankworthy, 20 – acceptable) God considers patient endurance of injustice a grace, something commendable because it is beyond ordinary human response.

From James 5:7-12 let’s consider a 4 part plan to making this supernatural response a part of our daily life. James gives us these in 4 packages - one inside the other. As God develops one quality in our lives toward the goal of doing right when wronged, we will find yet another quality to unwrap.

Before we open these packages let’s make some general observations.
1. The passage is addressed to believers (‘brethren’ mentioned 4 times – vv 7, 9, 10, 12), this quality is not something that anyone can do in themselves, God must be working it in us.
2. These 6 verses are directly related to the previous 6. In our last passage we saw how rich people were oppressing the righteous, their treacherous acts leading all the way to murder (5:6). Now in verse 7 James turns and gives advice to believers as to how to live in this intolerable situation.
3. James’ advice comes in 4 commands: 2 positive – do this right now, and 2 negative – stop doing this.
4. Woven into the text are 4 illustrations that shed light on each command.


James 5:7 – opening the first package we find that God wants to cultivate patience. This is a word from which we have the concept of long suffering or taking a long time to get angry. Patient people are not short tempered.

Patience is love’s first response (1 Corinthians 13:4). Love will motivate the person to overlook the offense, delay the anger and suffer long. Patience is also essential to learning. When we are irritable and impatient, we can never learn the lessons God has for us.

That’s why James mentions the Lord’s return in James 5:7. He is speaking not only of the Lord’s second coming but also of the Lord’s coming to our rescue when we’ve been wronged. We are to be patient just as the farmer patiently waits for the Lord to bring the rain.

James 5:7-8 – Patience illustrated in the farmer.

*Thought question: How long does a farmer wait from planting till harvest? Are you willing to wait that long for an answer from God?