My favorite book in the New Testament is James. I love this book. I can remember the first time I really read it. I’m not talking about the first time I actually read it, but the first time I really read it and began to internalize it. It honestly wasn’t that long ago, it was the summer of 2006.
I began reading. I soon learned James doesn’t mess around, he gets right to it. I had only read verses 2-4 and had to immediately stop. “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” What?! I remember being shocked. I had always thought hardships and trials were horrible and not something to be thankful for. I always knew you should be praying during those trials, but my prayers were more like this:
“God, please oh please make the bad go away! I’m so sorry for whatever it was I did to deserve this. Just please hurry and end this, I don’t like it!”
I never thought of trials as opportunity for growth, to develop perseverance. In that moment I actually felt a sense of comfort. (I know that sounds odd, most people hate to have this scripture quoted to them during trials.) But I felt comfort knowing when trials came, it was an opportunity from God to teach me and mature my faith. Not just a horrible period of time in which I must sit, suffer, and dwell on my depression.
So, I was set. The next trial that came my way, I was going to consider it pure joy! God was going to be so proud of me (go ahead and laugh.)
BAM!! First Trial! I handled it so awesome. I was in fact super righteous with my new knowledge. Ha! Just kidding. My first reaction was far from joyous…or thankful…or anything positive. I reacted the way I normally did. I went into control-freak mode and tried to analyze and figure out a solution to the problem. How do I make this situation go away? I do not like unhappiness. I began my plea with God to take this trial away, and then out of the very back of my mind James 1:2-4 came rolling up. Ugh, here it was…why did I ever think I would enjoy this? This opportunity to trust God, to grow and depend on Him wasn’t what I really wanted to do. It took a real effort and change in my attitude to began putting this scripture into practice. I spent A LOT of time praying God would teach me contentment in the storm and to learn a new dependence on Him.
I began learning my focus wasn’t to be on the trial. My focus needed to be on God, and what He wanted to teach me through it. I was learning to trust God more and more. I began to see significant change in my relationship with Him.
Now that I’m further down the road I can see how God used those smaller trials to prepare me for a much larger, and longer lasting trial my family would go through a few years later. During the midst of that trial, the hardest and darkest moments, the times I did not understand, I took comfort in knowing God was developing perseverance in me. It was incredibly painful at times, but I was able to find contentment knowing God had a purpose and was rewarding me with perseverance.
I promise you now, I would not trade those trials for anything. The blessings that came out of each are too numerous for me to count. The circumstances weren’t always pleasant, but God has blessed me with wisdom I would not have, a dependency on Him that I didn’t know, and I came out with a deeper love and appreciation for God and what He is continuously doing in my life.
Trials are inevitable, I know I have many more to go through in this un-perfect life. You will too. I’ve heard it said, “You are either going through a crisis, coming out of a crisis, or about to enter into a crisis.” We will struggle through them, and some will be severely painful. But please remember every trial and test we go through, God is there. He uses them all to point us to Him. Don’t fall into the trap of allowing the trial to consume you. There are times you will have to fight for your focus, but let your focus be on Christ. Depending on Him is the only way to get through it.
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him who have been called according to his purpose.” –Romans 8:28
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