James 1:2-4 - Let Trials Make You More Like Jesus.
James 1:2-4 (NLT) Dear brothers and sisters,
when troubles come your way, consider it an
opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know that when your
faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to
grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is
fully developed, you will be perfect and complete,
needing nothing.
James 1:2-4 (MSG) Consider it a sheer gift,
friends, when tests and challenges come at you from
all sides. 3 You know that under pressure, your
faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true
colors. 4 So don't try to get out of anything
prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and
well-developed, not deficient in any way.
INTRODUCTION
James doesnt say if you face trials, but
whenever you face them. He assumes that we will have
trials and that it is possible to profit from them.
The point is not to pretend to be happy when we
face pain, but to have a positive outlook
(consider it pure joy) because of what trials can
produce in our lives. James tells us to turn our
hardships into times of learning. [Life Application
SB]
We can't really know the depth of our
character until we see how we react under pressure. It
is easy to be kind to others when everything is
going well, but can we still be kind when others
are treating us unfairly? God wants to make us
mature and complete, not to keep us from all pain.
Instead of complaining about our struggles, we
should see them as opportunities for growth. Thank
God for promising to be with you in rough times.
Ask him to help you solve your problems or to
give you the strength to endure them. Then be
patient. God will not leave you alone with your
problems; he will stay close and help you grow. [Life
Application SB]
COMMENTARY PEARL
Of all the fruit of the Spirit listed in
Galatians 5:22, patience is the one I need to work on
the most. I can spend two hours watching a
movie, four years earning a college degree, and
decades learning how to be a good wife, but when I
need a prayer answered, I want it N.O.W.
Jesus doesn't panic as my calendar pages
flip forward. Rather, in my experience, He seems
to take His time to give me answers.
Looking back over my life, I see a common
pattern. WHENEVER I'VE HAD TO WAIT FOR AN ANSWER TO
PRAYER, I GROW CLOSER TO JESUS IN THE PROCESS.
WHEN, IN DESPERATION, I DIG INTO HIS WORD
TO FIND PROMISES APPLICABLE TO MY NEED, I
REPEATEDLY SEE HIS GOODNESS, HIS MERCY TOWARD ME, AND
HIS WILLINGNESS TO HELP.
COULD IT BE THAT JESUS IS MORE INTERESTED
IN WHAT HE CAN DO IN ME THAN WHAT HE CAN DO FOR
ME?
I know Jesus is not purposely trying my
patience, but maybe He is providing trying
opportunities so I will learn how to be more patient.
Perhaps He knows that THE GROWTH OF MY FAITH - AS I
WAIT, AND SEARCH THE SCRIPTURE, AND EVENTUALLY
SURRENDER MY WILL TO HIS - IS FAR MORE IMPORTANT THAN
THE CULMINATION OF MY WISHES. THAT'S SOMETHING
WORTH WAITING FOR. Jeanette Levellie
Faith Step: Find a scripture that applies
to what you've been asking Jesus to do in your
life. Write it down, commit it to memory, and rest
in His love. [Mornings With Jesus 2024
Devotional by Guideposts and Zondervan]
COMMENTARY
The Meaning of Trials
Our sorrows do not spring out of the
ground. In every affliction God has a purpose to
work out for our good. Every blow that destroys
an idol, every providence that weakens our hold
upon earth and fastens our affections more firmly
upon God, is a blessing. The pruning may be
painful for a time, but afterward it yieldeth the
peaceable fruit of righteousness. We should receive
with gratitude whatever will quicken the
conscience, elevate the thoughts, and ennoble the life.
The fruitless branches are cut off and cast into
the fire. Let us be thankful that through
painful pruning, we may retain a connection with the
living Vine; for if we suffer with Christ, we shall
also reign with him. The very trial that taxes
our faith the most severely and makes it seem as
though God had forsaken us, is to lead us more
closely to him, that we may lay all our burdens at
the feet of Christ, and experience the peace
which he will give us in exchange. Let no
Christian feel that he is forsaken when the hour of
trial comes upon him. Not a sparrow falls to the
ground without your heavenly Father's notice. God
loves and cares for the feeblest of his creatures,
and we cannot dishonor him more than by doubting
his love to us. O let us cultivate that living
faith that will trust him in the hour of darkness
and trial! Living faith in the merits of a
crucified Redeemer will carry men through the fiery
furnace of affliction and trial, and the form of the
Fourth will be with them in the furnace, however
fierce its heat; and they will come forth from its
flame with not even the smell of the fire on their
garments. RH April 10, 1804
CLOSING THOUGHT
In the full light of day, and in hearing of
the music of other voices, the caged bird will
not sing the song that this master seeks to
teach him. He learns a snatch of this, a trill of
that, but never a separate and entire melody. But
the master covers the cage, and places it where
the bird will listen to the one song he is to
sing. In the dark, he tries and tries again to
sing that song until it is learned, and he breaks
forth in perfect melody. Then the bird is brought
forth, and ever after he can sing that song in the
light. Thus God deals with His children. He has a
song to teach us, and when we have learned it
amid the shadows of affliction, we can sing it
ever afterward. MH472.
LINKS FOR FURTHER STUDY
James 1:2-4 - Let Trials Make You More Like
Jesus.
https://www.abible.com/devotions/2024/20240207-0835.html
https://www.abible.com/devotions/2021/20210504-0932.html
James 1:2-4 - Trials as Teachers.
http://www.abible.com/devotions/2013/20131121-1340.html
James 1:2-4 - Profiting from Trials.
http://www.abible.com/devotions/2012/20121129-1536.html
James 1:4 - Mature Fruit.
https://www.abible.com/devotions/2023/20230313-0831.html
LINKS WORTH CHECKING OUT
https://abible.com/links/
