Joy In Trials?
1James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations:
Greetings.
Trials and Temptations
2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.
Bee's Thoughts:
I just came back from a 2-days mission trip today. We visited the poor villagers and also an orphanage to celebrate Christmas with them. Though the people there are poor, and the orphans have no parents, yet I could see the joy in them when we celebrated with them in songs, dance and giving them little gifts. It's very touching to see a number of them raise their hands to worship God and closed their eyes tight in prayers to God. Aren't they in worst condition than I am? Yet they can rejoice knowing that God cares for them through us.
Tonight's devotion reminds me that all the trials I am facing now is to teach me to be even more persevering than before. If God has kept me from falling in my past trials, surely He will continue to keep me in my current trials. All I need is to know that God is carving a beautiful being out of me through all that I am going through now. Therefore, I should rejoice that I have a God who cares for me and He knows how much I can take. All I need is to ASK from Him wisdom to handle these trials appropriately.
Dear Lord,
You have asked me to ASK You for wisdom when I face trials. Therefore, I am asking You now to grant me the the wisdom to know the difference between what I can change and what I can't. Give me the Your peace and serenity to accept what I can't change.Give me Your grace and courage to change what I can. May my life be what You want me to be.
In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Tommy's Thoughts:
It may be easy to be good, kind and generous when we’re fine and everything is going well. But, will we be the same when others treating us badly or we are under stress or feeling distressed?
To consider it pure joy (v2) doesn’t means to pretend to be happy when we are in pain, but rather to have a positive outlook that our trials produce perseverance in us, building our character- making us mature and complete and helping us to grow in our faith. God has promised to be close with us through these rough times, helping us to solve our problems or giving us the strength to endure.
Dear Father, thank You for teaching me to be patience and to trust You at all times. Lord, teach me also not to complain or be shortsighted when things don’t go the way I wanted them to be, but instead to pray to You for wisdom and the grace to trust and obey. Lead me to commit wholeheartedly to Your loving care and seeing all trials as opportunities to grow to be more like Christ. I pray this in Jesus’ Name, Amen.
