OVERJOYED BY TRIALS

OVERJOYED BY TRIALS
James 1:1-8
"Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete..." (v.4)

IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE OPENING greeting, James drops a bombshell. "Are you up to your neck in trouble?" he asks. "Congratulations!" The "trials of many kinds" (v.2) refer to difficult circumstances that test our character to see what we are made of. We are not only to endure these tests but welcome them with "pure joy".

In saying this, James is simply echoing the command of Jesus to "rejoice and be glad" (Matthew 5.12) when we face trials. (Upon closer study, commentators have found no less than 22 parallels between James' epistle and Jesus' Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7.) But why should we be overjoyed by difficulty?

The reason is that difficulty is part of God's tool in completing the work in us. Like a skilful sculptor, he uses adversity to chisel us till we become what He wants us to be. Or to use another analogy, He incubates us till we are ready to be born. Then we are in full term, "mature and complete, not lacking anything" (v.4). Sometimes when we are tried, we opt out of the test and effect a self-abortion.

A surgeon was about to perform a delicate operation on a patient. Sensing the patient's fear, the doctor said, "Do not worry. I may hurt you but I will not harm you." God says the same to us in our trials. We may be hurt but it will be part of our healing and growth. Since God is the workman, He knows when the work is done. He knows when to bring the test to an end.

What if the test seems too much for us? God promises us wisdom so that we will know what to do, and how to do it. It is there for our asking. James tells us how God gives, and how we should ask. When God gives, He gives "generously to all without finding fault" (v.5). How often is the best of gifts spoiled by the manner of giving! There are those who give little and scold much. God gives much, and without the "I told you so" line attached.

As God gives without scrimping, we are to ask without doubting. When we doubt, we are "double-minded" (v.8), literally in two minds: one believing, the other disbelieving. We dishonour God by questioning his power or desire to give. Not only do we fail to get what we ask, we end up "like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind" (v.6). This need not be. In our trials, let us rejoice and let us seek God's wisdom.

Am I rejoicing in my trial?