Day 4- Week 65 - James 1:3-4 "Knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance, and endurance. But endurance must do its complete work, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.

In Robert J. Morgan's book, 100 Bible Verses Everyone Should Know by Heart, he would have us follow these verses up with next week's verse being James 1:5.  It is another great verse, but I feel we need to continue in our study of joy and will substitute another verse.  But....I do love what Morgan says about the linkage between James 1:3 and James 1:5 (which is exactly where we are!)...

This verse is a link in the chain connecting our worries (v.3) with God's wisdom (v.5).  When facing trials of various kinds, we shouldn't view them as bad luck or as random misfortunes.  They may be consequences of regrettable decisions or unavoidable debacles.  They may appear as tragic accidents or be sent by Satan.  But there is a Savior who embraced all our struggles while stretched on the crossbar of Calvary.  He not only redeems our souls from sin but our circumstances from despair.  He promises to wrest everything into conformity to His will and turn all things for good in our lives.

Now those words cause me to have great joy!!  When I can look at my current situation, no matter how good or how bad, and know that no matter what comes, God is on my side working things together for my good, then I have no reason for discouragement. 

I say, "no matter how good or how bad" because sometimes when things are going so very well, we have a tendency to become apprehensive about what might be around the corner.  We've lived long enough to realize that good times don't last forever here on planet earth, so anxiety can set in about what may lie ahead.  But we have no cause for anxiousness when we trust in our God for His provision and His care. 

I also love the phrase that Morgan included above, "He not only redeems our souls from sin but our circumstances from despair."  We always hear that while God forgives, He does not always lift the consequence of our sin, that there are results that have to be reckoned with.  But He redeems those circumstances from despair when we can see His hand working through those consequences to mold us into a more Christ-like being, learning from the consequences and circumstances that we are going through, and knowing that "next time" we will not fall for the same ploy of Satan to pull us off God's designed path for our lives. 

We have cause for joy because we have a God who loves us through thick and thin.  He uses our mistakes to grow us when we lay them at His feet and ask for His forgiveness.  He brings to us His wisdom when we ask for it.  For that's what James 1:2, 3 & 4 lead us to...James 1:5, "If any of you lack wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and without criticizing, and it will be given to him."

James tells us that when we bring our brokenness and our ignorance to God and ask Him, "What do I do now?", He is ready to answer us with His absolute wisdom, without criticizing, (don't you love that!), ready to set our feet on the solid ground of His path for us.   Working our way through the circumstances and consequences of wherever our path of error has taken us, we know that He is walking right beside us, encouraging us to stay strong and to endure, and to keep walking home.

Day 3 - Week 65 - James 1:3-4, "Knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. But endurance must do its complete work, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing."

From Charles Spurgeon's sermon on this verse:

Look at the weather-beaten sailor, the man at home on the sea.  He has a bronzed face and mahogany-colored flesh.  He looks as tough as oak and as hardy as if made of iron.  How different from us poor landsmen.  He can go out to sea in any kind of weather; he has his sea legs on.  How did he come to this strength?  By doing business in great waters.  could not have become a hardy seaman by tarrying on shore.  Now, trial works in the saints that spiritual hardihood which cannot be learned in ease.  You may go to school forever, but you cannot learn endurance there:  you may color your cheek with paint, but you cannot give it that ingrained brown which comes of stormy seas and howling winds.

Isn't that a great word picture?  Can't you just see in your mind the crusty old sailor that Spurgeon is describing? 

"Spiritual hardihood"...that is our goal!  Or as Robert J. Morgan states it, "Endurance is the ability to undergo a period of stress and strain with the inner strength of Christ, emerging from it stronger than when we entered.  It's looking squarely into the face of discouraging circumstances without despair.  It's assuming that God is going to work all things for good.  It's acting as though it's already done though yet unseen.  This seems to be a quality the Lord values beyond almost all else.  It's one of His secret formulas in developing the chemistries of our Christian personalities."

Wow!  I want to be able to look squarely into the face of discouraging circumstances without despair.  That, to me, is true spiritual hardihood!  Becoming strong enough not to crumple when things look bleak; better yet, not to even blink an eye because I know that my God is working on my behalf.  That I have a faith confident enough to rely on my God's ability, that the good result is already in the works.  I can look tough times square in the eye, just like a weather-beaten sailor, and say, "I'm ready for the storm, the calm that follows will come."

I think I've described counting our trials as joy...it is not that we want hard or bad times.  It is that we know God is with us and He will use them for our good, and for our growth. 

"My old eyes get dimmer.  The specialist says the light will fade altogether.  So I gird myself for darkness, quote James 1:2 to 4, shout Hallelujah and go on."  - Salvation Army hero, Samuel Logan Brengle, facing old age and blindness

Day 2 - Week 65 - James 1:3-4 "Knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. But endurance must do its complete work, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing."

Knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance....

I love the way Robert J. Morgan explains this phrase:

The term "testing" is akin to the idea of exercise.  If faith never goes to the gym, it becomes flabby.  As we encounter trials, our faith is put to the test, exercised, put thought its paces.  As our faith develops muscles, we become people of greater stamina and inner strength.  That gives us maturity and proven character.

Morgan's explanation reminds me of Pauls' words in 1 Timothy... "Physical exercise has some value, but spiritual exercise is much more important, for it promises a reward in both this life and the next." 

So now I'm thinking of exercising...you know how good it feels when you're finished?  (I think I remember how that feels!)  And you know how you get excited about starting an exercise program because you know you will feel better because of it?  I think that's how we should feel when we are facing trials...rather than focusing on the temporary pain, we look forward to the eternal gain.  We know that there is purpose in the pain, we are becoming stronger in our faith and in our understanding of God's plan for our life....our earthly life and our eternal one!

Run the race, start out slow, but run.  Build your strength, and before you know it you will be soaring like an eagle!

Isaiah 40:31  But those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not faint.