James 1:2-3
“My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.”
My sisters drive Priuses, and they like to test them and see just how far they can go before filling up with gas. Because of this experience, when their tanks ding empty, they have peace and know just how far they can still go before having to actually fill up. Similarly, life is our testing period. When we come out victoriously we know how far God can take us and that we can endure through Christ who strengthens us. Our neighbor’s mother was a woman of great faith. One day after being married and having a dozen children, her husband up and left. She waited and prayed for seven years that her husband would come home, and at the end of the seven years, God brought him back. So when asked how long to wait, she would say, “I don’t know, but I do know to wait seven years.” She had seen the faithfulness of God and could endure patiently.
Is James 1:2-3 a command or an encouragement? Or is James teaching them a new way to think? When we think hardship and trials and tests, we don’t automatically say, “Sign me up!” Why? Because they are hard! Trials are a process of purification and advancement. They advance us through a transformation from ourselves into the image of Christ. That is why we should rejoice, because if we succeed, we will be more like Christ. So many friends of mine (after coming out of the hard time) say, “It made me stronger and I would go through it again.” But this entails being tested by fire, which is hot and it burns. Physically, after a great workout (if you don’t do it very often, like me) our body burns, so why would we do it? Because it will make us stronger, create endurance, and get us in healthier shape. We are soldiers of the Most High. These trials are battles and He wants us in shape for the war that rages.
Some of the finest metals on earth are run through several processes which consist of heating and cooling until the metal is fine enough to be molded into a form of the master’s choosing. We must be patient through the trials and endure the fire because that is how we are going to be more like Christ, and we want to emulate His character. One day in 2019 I was praying that God would keep my family and friends from trials, and He told me to not pray that they would avoid them but rather to pray they come out victorious through them. If we avoid them we will not be refined and will not advance to being more like Christ. If we go through them and fail we are set back, but are mercifully given another chance to learn from our mistakes. If we are victorious, then we learned the lesson and are a witness to God’s faithfulness.
The victories in God become points of remembrance (ebenezers) to give us strength in future trials. When the disciples were jailed and beaten for Christ’s sake, they leapt for joy to have been found worthy to suffer.[1] As I was writing this, I was going through a test of trusting God with my heart, my family, and my country. The guy I thought was perfect for me did not see me as worth it; my good friend was walking away, and I could not do anything about it; and my country was in a pandemic that no one understood. Was it easy to give up those things to God? No, but it was necessary. When I cried over God saying no to the relationship, I would remind myself that God saw me mature enough in Him to be tested in the surrendering of my will, my hope, and my dreams. To be like Jesus is to be moldable, to submit oneself to the design of the Lord, and to bend when He touches us. When going through the trial mentioned, I had to humble myself to be moldable. We don’t want to be so hard He has to smash us; we want to be moldable so His hands are always on us, and we are pleasing to Him. God resists a hard heart, but finds pleasure in a heart of (tenderness) flesh.[2]
Trials are never pleasant in the moment,[3] but if we submit to the will of God and allow His work to be developed permanently in us, in time we will find “God has made everything beautiful.”[4] Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.[5] We rejoice because, if we submit, we have been counted worthy to look more like Christ of whom the Father said, “I am well pleased.”[6]
Application:
What is a trial or testing period that you have recently gone through or are going through right now? I want you to think about it and see how God is forming you into the Christian you are supposed to be, His perfect bride. Write down five things you are grateful for with that trial. This will help us keep our eyes on the goal of alignment with God. If you were not as victorious as you hoped, find your point of failure and write down how to do better next time. There you go, that is one thing to be grateful for: seeing how we can overcome. May the Lord give you encouragement to prepare you for future battles.
[1] Acts 5:41
[2] 1 Peter 5:5
[3] Hebrews 12:11
[4] Ecclesiastes 3:11
[5] Proverbs 3:6
[6] 2 Peter 1:17