TRIALS AND JOY? GIVE ME A BREAK!

JAMES 2:2-4: “Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

OBSERVATION: Don’t quit before you get through endurance! This is the place where one usually gives up. When you see the promise that is set before us in the Word of God, endurance should be the one thing we strive to experience and complete.

It does not take any effort to go through various trials. In fact, you don’t even have to get in line for them. Trials, struggles, difficulties, setbacks, and disappointments will be lining up at the door of life. Sometimes it seems like life is a revolving door of these unwanted opportunities.

James has a weird way of looking at all of this. Even before we answer the door he says – “Count it all joy!” I think James and I are going to have a talk someday in heaven. Yet, I expect when we do he will have a smile on his face which is saying – did you make it through endurance?

If we did not have trials – we would not need faith. Faith is trusting in something so much that you hold on tight without letting go. When my grandfather used to push me on the swings – I needed faith. He would push me higher and higher and the only thing I could do was hold on for dear life.

Yet, as I held on, something happened. Faith turned to a calm assurance that my grandfather was not going to allow me to get hurt. He just wanted to teach me to have some grit. He wanted to test my resolve. And this is what trials do to our faith – they test it, try it, purify it.

The trials of life teach us to hold on to God!

• “For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, of our affliction which occurred in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead, who rescued us from so great a danger of death, and will rescue us, He on whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us…” 2 Corinthians 1:8-10

Paul’s trials, even the attempts on his life, taught him that there was no one else he could hold on to but God! This is where we learn endurance. We need to be like Jacob through the struggles of life. Holding on, refusing to let go, until we receive the blessing. Finally, the angel knew Jacob was not letting go – and he blessed him!

This is endurance!

This is the goal!

This is what leads to the reward.

The reward is beyond comprehension. James puts it this way – “And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

When you refuse to let go of God – there is nothing that can affect you in this life. Paul understood this when he said – “…So that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead, who rescued us from so great a danger of death, and will rescue us, He on whom we have set our hope.” Through endurance Paul,

Experienced God’s deliverance.

Was experiencing God’s deliverance.

And, was anticipating His future deliverance.

Endurance is the key. It brings us to the place where our faith is completed and lacking nothing. It brings us to the throne of God through the blood of Jesus Christ. There we hide under the shadow of his wings always receiving mercy and grace in our time of need.

I will never forget the words of the great Bible Expositor, J. Vernon McGee. This was toward the end of his life when he was in his 80s. He said something that did not make a whole lot of sense at the time I heard it but is becoming more understandable as I grow older in my faith. I can imagine Dr. McGee leaning into the microphone and saying,

“You know, the Devil doesn’t bother me very much anymore. He knows that when he does all this preacher does is run into the arms of Jesus!”

Dr. McGee had passed through endurance. He had come to the place where, like Jacob, he was not going to let go. He was not going to let the trials of this life break him away from his full and complete dependence upon God. As Paul, near the end of his life, would write –

• “But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:37-39

Dear one, are you going through an extreme trial right now? Are you weary, wondering why it continues, and ready to throw in the towel? Do the words of James seem unloving and insensitive to say the least? My heart would be to offer you a simple formula to find an immediate miraculous victory. Yet, the Biblical truth, and the only thing that will bring you into the fullness of His purpose and love is simply this…

HOLD ON TO JESUS!

DON’T LET GO!

HIDE YOUR HEART IN HIS PRESENCE!

LET ENDURANCE COMPLETE ITS PERFECT WORK IN YOU!

I have lost loved ones, faced death, spent numerous extended bouts in the hospital with serious conditions, been forced out of a church, lost jobs, experienced great difficulty in my marriage, and walked with people as they journeyed from this life into the next. In all of this, the only answer I have found that brings me continual comfort, resolve, faith, and finally victory are the words of James.

• “Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” James 2:2-4

Lord, I pray earnestly, from the bottom of my heart, to grant everyone who reads these words the faith to hold on. To allow their faith to be perfected. To receive the grace to endure. And to experience the Joy of Jesus completing His work in their heart and lives – and mine too!

Heavenly Father, through the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit, help me to hold on to Jesus until I enter into Your victory!

In Jesus’ Name