Tuesday, December 17, 2024

I Know Why, So Can You

James 1
vs 2-My Brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
vs 3-Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

In the margin of my Ryrie Study Bible it says, "Trials faced with joy result in patience, (endurance), which leads to maturity (being perfect) and full (entire) development.
Divers=Various.

David Guzik commented on these two verses from James as well.  He writes, "James regarded trials as inevitable.  Trials are occasions for joy, not discouraged resignation, because they are used to produce patience.  Faith is tested through trials, not produced by trials. Trials reveal what faith we do have, not because God doesn't know how much faith we have, but so that our faith will be evident to ourselves and those around us.  If difficulties are received in unbelief and grumbling, trials can produce bitterness and discouragement."
All true.

I will confess.  When I go through a trial, I'm not always joyful.  I think to myself, 'I just can't seem to get a break!'  Or 'Why does this have to happen to me?' Often times, it seems like one thing happens right after the other.  Just when I think I'm back on calm seas, another storm hits.
I wonder if I'm rocking the boat on my troubled sea because I have not learned to be joyful in my circumstances.
Have I allowed my trials to produce what God has purposed to produce in my trial?
In the midst of my trial, what do others see?  Am I fighting and resisting what the Lord has allowed in my life?  Or can they still see joy in my Lord?
We are told that all we need is a mustard seed of faith, but sometimes I wonder if I even have that.
Trials are to help us grow and to help those around us grow.  I think the key to having joy in the midst of trials is found in verse three.  We have the 'so that' to our question of 'why?'

It is the 'What' our trial produces...
 It's to complete our faith, to make our faith perfect...
    I find comfort in that...
        But that's just me!

I wish we could know the 'why' behind everything we go through, but if we did, we would miss what we need the most:  FAITH.







No comments:

Post a Comment