Encountering trials

I cracked open my Bible today to James 1. This section jumped right out at me:

Consider it all joy, my brethren, 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 1:2-4

Consider it all JOY?? If you are anything like the various people I’ve been keeping up with, your life is getting hit from all sides with varying levels of agitation, piles of distraction, a suffocating sense of cabin fever, perhaps overwhelming grief or loneliness, concerns about finances and health, and the creeping helplessness of uncertainty. I could list all of the things hitting me, but your list is probably longer and more intense! HELP!

But when I gazed on that phrase, consider it all joy, it brought a smile to my face and a sense of relief to the pit of my stomach. Oh, yeah!! I remembered. God is capable of helping me through all of this!

Yup. The trials are here. We are all encountering them, big and small, piled up and weighing us down with all the typical symptoms of stress and anxiety. That means every one of us qualifies for this James 1 exhortation, and the good news is this: We will emerge on the other side of every one of these trials!

You and I may not see instant results, though. That’s OK, because the main ingredient in making it successfully through any trial that hits you (next to leaning hard on Jesus) is ENDURANCE. Perseverance. Not giving up. Knowing that this trial—and all of these trials—will be behind you at some point.

You have made it through past trials. God steadied you, covered you, assisted you…He was there with you back then; He is with you now. He is faithful. That is what you nail your endurance to—His faithfulness to you. Bind yourself to that Rock with the good sturdy rope of Truth and refuse to untie it. He will see you through every one of these tests, both great and small. He loves you.

As you hunker down in tight proximity with Him, endurance will be working on your behalf by the hand of God. Oh, so subtly, but oh, so thoroughly, endurance will have its perfect work. You will make it through Trial 1. You will make it through Trial 2. You will make it through Trial 3….and all the rest of those attacks against your peace, your health, your finances, your sanity, your loved ones, and maybe even your very life.

Most of all, though, you will have walked through this season—perhaps while feeling like a total loser—choosing to fix not only your gaze but your entire being as well on the Capable One who loves you and is willing to hold you close. As you do, my friend, you will find at the end of this onslaught of piled up trials, that you will be perfect (as opposed to destroyed) and complete, lacking nothing.

May God, the Capable One, help all of us.

Dorothy

© 2020, Dorothy Frick