James 1:2 says, “…count it all joy when you fall into various trials.”
Wait, what?? Count it joy? For real?!
Yes! That’s what it says. Count it joy when you fall into various trials. Why?
It comes down to proper perspective and that comes from proper knowledge. Where do we get the knowledge? Through scripture. Romans 8:28, a very familiar scripture that we claim and proclaim says, “And we KNOW that all THINGS work together for GOOD to them who love God, who are the called according to His purpose.” This “working together” of “things” is actually intended to conform us to His likeness! We really don’t like to go through the process of becoming, do we? But, we know that if we resist the process, we forfeit the result. Merely claiming promises without process makes us feel entitled, not empowered.
The empowering comes in verse 3 where patience is produced through the testing of your faith. Why patience? Why does God want us to have patience? Because Satan, our enemy, is patient! God wants us to be patient because our enemy is patient. Our enemy will wait until church is over, the week has progressed, our strength is depleted and the worship song we sang is a distant memory. And, then, he pounces! He’s very patient.
Because of the entitlement mindset that plagues our culture, we face trials and immediately assume that God is absent leaving us weak, anemic and blaming Him for something we were supposed to joyfully embrace. We missed that God is not ever absent. He is very much present and He is actively working and empowering. It’s all about perspective. The enemy that we hate to face is actually necessary for our promotion. There was no victory for David without that giant Goliath! He was a necessity in David’s life to bring victory to God’s people.
When your perspective changes through knowledge to see your trials joyfully, you will welcome the challenges instead of running from them.
~Pastor Jon Morgan