Jump Start # 1237

James 1:2 “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials”

  This week we are considering some thoughts to be “Thankful.” These are not your usual run of the mill ideas. However, these are the very things that have shaped us, caused us to be reflective and built character and hope within us. Yesterday, we talked about “Open Doors.”

Today, trials, adversity, hardships. First, no one wants these. We don’t pray, “God make my life difficult.” It’s not that we enjoy pain, tears and heartache, but it’s through those things that we become better people.   In our verse today, James identifies three important aspects of trials.

First, he says, “WHEN.” He didn’t use the word, might. He didn’t say, a few of you. Rather, WHEN YOU. James is certain that somewhere in our lives, the trials will come. Peter told his people not to be surprised by the fiery trial. The Lord ended the sermon on the mount with the story of two men who built their houses upon different foundations. To BOTH men came rains, floods and winds. Both men experienced storms. They’re coming. That’s what James tells us.

Second, he says, VARIOUS TRIALS. There is not just one kind of trial. They come in different sizes and different ways. There are the afflictions that come upon us from nature. The people in Buffalo experienced massive snowfall last week. That snow is melting and turning into floods. Nature causes trials. Droughts. Tornados. Fires. They come in “Various” ways. There are layoffs, and health problems. There are victims of crimes. There are sufferings that come uniquely to God’s people, persecution. Obeying God can bring resistance from family and friends. It is much easier to go along with the world than it is to be holy and blameless. Some trials seem worse than others. Some last longer than others. Understand, for those who are experiencing them, it is bad. It’s hard.

Third, he says CONSIDER IT ALL JOY. The joy is not in the pain received, but in the positive benefits that come as one endures and overcomes. The joy is in developing patience. The joy is in the reaching out to God. The joy is in remaining faithful to God. The joy is in the outcome. James sees benefits in our difficulties. He sees that they have the potential to shape and mold us into something better than we are. Without those trials, we may never become what we should. The trials are the roadway to a better us.

Thankful for hard times. That’s tough. Some of our Jump Start readers are in the midst of these difficulties right now. Cancer. Having to put loved ones in assisted living. Death. Prodigals. Loss of jobs. Having to move from a home that you love. Wrong choices from others have brought pain into your lives. Marriages that are not going to make it. Congregations that are dying. Kids that have messed up.

You find yourself praying more than you ever have before. Your prayers are not rehearsed generic prayers that we say over and over. They are real. They are pinpointed. They are full of emotion, tears and begging the God of Heaven and Earth to help you. You find yourself pouring through the Psalms. That book becomes the guide for the hurting heart. You now understand David’s fears and turmoil as he ran from King Saul. You look at Job and believe that you may be reliving his nightmare. Worship is hard. Some hymns bring tears. Those around have a hard time understanding. Some pat you on the shoulder and walk away. Some offer cheap words such as, “turn your lemons into lemonade.” Others simply tell you to “snap out of it.” You’d love to. But how? It’s a struggle to get out of bed. The holidays are times of family and fun, but for you that empty chair, that phone call that will never come, only deepens your sorrow and pain. Consider it all joy? Really? Is he serious? More likely, is he nuts? There is nothing joyous about the way you feel. Crying yourself to sleep and hoping you’ll wake up from this to a better situation, but it never happens.

But without realizing this, something is happening. You are getting tough. You are pushing yourself through. You are not giving up on God. You can’t. You see things in hymns that you’ve never seen before. You find great comfort in passages that you never have before. It’s tough. No one knows nor understands. Your situation is unique. Some will say, “I know what you are going through,” but they don’t. No one ones, but God. But God. He’s always been there. He is still there. That thought. That image on the cross. That hope. Heaven becomes more than a wishful thought way off in the future, it becomes something real and now. God’s way becomes more sure and absolute in your heart. How dare any one mess with the word of God. Worship becomes passionate. How dare people sleep during services. Sermons bring great peace and hope to you.

What has happened is that these serious trials in your life has awakened your soul and your heart. God is real. What we do is right. You find yourself more passionate and determined than ever before. You look back and realize that you were taking God for granted. You were floating through spiritually and not really engaged nor very serious. Sure you went to church services, but it was easy to forget all that by Monday. Not anymore. God is never out of your mind. Your pain has brought God to the forefront. Shallow living and shallow thinking and shallow worshipping and shallow talking dominate the world. You recognize it now. Your interests are in the things above. You feel a fire within you when people want to abuse worship or bring up silly things in a Bible class. Your heart wants God. Depth, meat, digging deeper, lowering the nets, these are the things that your heart longs for. You are not ashamed to talk about Jesus, to anyone, anywhere. You are not ashamed to defend the Gospel, before anyone at anytime.

What’s happened? You are not the same. Trials have changed you. They have changed you for the better. You are more spiritual, more caring, more compassionate than ever before. Remember the story of “The Christmas Carol?” Ole’ Scrooge was a changed man after his visits by the ghosts of Christmas. You are changed, not because of ghosts, but because of trials. The very thing that can cause some to walk away from God, can cause the right heart to walk closer to God. You have chosen the latter.

The difficulties have been hard. But look where you are today. You wonder, had it not been for those things, would I have drifted into a state of apathy and lukewarmness? But thanks be to God, that because of trials, I am focused, determined and set to go to Heaven. Hand in hand with the Lord.

Trials. Pain. Sorrow. Heartache. They become the vehicles to help you get closer to the Lord. Have they? Are you?

Thankful for difficulties. That’s hard.

Roger