“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you face trials of various kinds,
for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.”
James 1:2-3
While there are numerous rich verses of text in James, the first chapter of James begins with revealing how God tests our faith (James 1:1-12). Faith is the foundation of our relationship with Jesus Christ, which is why continual growth in faith will develop us spiritually. Faith must be tested. Jesus is our Master and teacher, and we live in the constant classroom of testing and refining in order to grow us up. An analogy may be our Father (God) drops his child off at school, with Master Jesus as our teacher. To start, we are attending the most prestigious school of learning since we are being taught principles far above those on earth, and the things of heaven supersede any mortal lesson that we can learn from an earthly teacher alone. What if we showed up late for this class, stared out the window of the classroom daydreaming, took no notes, and didn’t take seriously the lessons that were being taught to us for an upcoming test? Obviously, when it came time to take the test we would fail, and fail miserably. Sadly, when it comes to learning heavenly lessons from Jesus, the greatest teacher of all time, we take this lackadaisical approach to “testing” more times than we care to admit.
When Master Jesus is trying to teach one of His children obedience, and we are being taught a lesson in His “classroom” we may be thinking “How long until recess?” When he is teaching us to love one another we may be thinking, “What did Mom put in my lunch today, and does it include a cookie?” When he is trying to teach us patience we may be thinking, “Only 3 more hours and I’m free to go play with my friends!” Only to discover abruptly that when the pop quiz is placed in front of us we fail the (fill in the blank) test again because we weren’t studying and paying attention in class. We are going to have to retake the test until we pass. We need to honestly ask ourselves, “How many times do I want to repeat the same test before I graduate?” While Jesus is gracious and patient with us, He wants us to pay attention to the lessons He is trying to teach us so we can graduate and avoid the consequences of failing the test He has given. In Romans 8:37, Jesus calls us more than conquerors, and through tests and trials, that is what he is grooming us to become. As much as we would love to have comfort be the goal in our trials, God is more interested in producing completeness and perfection in us by testing our faith through our trials. He wants us to pass the test!
When we are experiencing testing and trails, James tells us to “count it all joy”. Normally, we associate the word suffering with the concept of trials. But we are called to cultivate an attitude of joy as we go through a trial. The second fruit of the Spirit is joy, and of all of the various fruits that could be incorporated in facing a trial, such as patience and self-control, joy is the fruit that is chosen here. Hebrews 12:2 speaks of the reason Jesus counted it joy right before he would be crucified, “…who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” Jesus was showing us the eternal perspective of a trial. He moved past the here and now, and focused on the joy that it would bring Him and the Father, as he would sacrifice His life in order to be the Savior for the whole world. In His deep love for all those created in the image of God, the human race, he found immense joy in sacrificing Himself for us. Jesus is calling us to shift our attention from the pain and suffering of a trial, and focus on the question “why is God allowing this trial and what lesson of faith and growth is he trying to work out in my life?” It is imperative that we seek God for the answer to this question.
Continuing with our life lessons through trials, he spells out in James 1:3-4 the beauty that the trial will accomplish in our lives. The testing of our faith produces steadfastness and through passing our test and walking victoriously through the trial, he is wanting us to be perfect and complete. Lacking nothing! Personally, it is difficult even to imagine lacking nothing. Being perfected as a result of the trial God has allowed seems out of our reach. That is because in our own effort it is out of reach! As we focus our attention on God’s purpose for the trial, rest assured that our confidence must lie in the fact that “Nothing is impossible with God” (Matthew 19:26).
Being our perfect teacher and knowing all things, he then gives us a powerful tool in order to pass our faith test. He tells us to ask for wisdom. He knows that on our own, we will flounder through the trial if we only use our human intellect and reasoning skills. Both are very limited when compared to the wisdom of God. Being the gracious Father that He is, He offers wisdom to all, if we will simply ask. God’s Word says he will give it to us generously (James 1:5).
However, in James 1:6, God starts with a requirement using the word “but”. This condition requires steadfast faith when we ask for wisdom. Our heavenly teacher, Jesus, brings us back to the test of faith. If we start out asking in faith, but then begin to doubt, we have to take the faith test over again. Wavering and doubting is the exact opposite of faith. His illustration of the waves of the sea paints a vivid picture of the lack of steadiness doubt brings. Being “driven and tossed” by the wind points to us acting in the flesh which is unstable, and not in the Spirit which is steadfast. We are allowing something other than faith to drive our results. The consequence of acting in the flesh is severe. If we doubt, we are told that we will receive nothing from our request to the Lord! This type of man is called double-minded. The definition of double-minded is wavering in mind, undecided, vacillating, marked by hypocrisy and insincere.
As we move to James 1:9-11, initially, these verses may seem a bit out of place in this context. Going from faith in trials to an illustration of a lowly and rich man. God ties it in seamlessly by outlining that both poor and rich will encounter trials in life, but the trials are fleeting in light of eternity. However, the believer in Jesus Christ, portrayed as the lowly man, will reap an eternal reward for remaining steadfast through the trial, while the unbeliever, portrayed as the rich man, will lose any earthly reward he perceived he attained.
By looking deeper into what it means to boast or to glory in our exaltation, we are reminded that our riches are not of this world. God can and does bless believers with material riches, such as the case of Abraham being rich in silver, gold, cattle, and land. At the root of the riches of the lowly man this verse isn’t speaking of actual money, but the unsurpassable riches of our eternal reward in Christ. Through our trials we can boast of our Kingdom treasures. The rich man only finds his treasure as material things in this world, and he will be eternally humiliated by placing his trust in earthly things. Just as the grass and flowers of the field soon pass away, both the righteous and the unrighteous live a very short life on this earth. It is a reminder of how fleeting this world is and to keep an eternal perspective, as we go through trials, that our joy is placed in our eternal reward. Trust God to keep you through the trial, for our richest reward is found in Heaven, where we will receive the promise of the crown of eternal life.