“My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” James 1:2-4
Jesus was in a boat sinking storm once! The Apostle Paul encountered storms at sea – more than once! Both Jesus and Paul survived these overwhelming natural forces of weather. Their experiences were written for us so we would know what to do when we’re in a storm, it tells us where to look, what to say and what we can expect! Have you ever wondered why those stories are in the Bible? They were written for our instruction.
How do we look through the storm when there seems to be no end in sight? How do you remain steadfast when our boat is flooding and we’re going down? Where’s the joy in all this?
KNOW THIS – God has not left us defenseless! He has given us an inside track to victory, but we have to KNOW something: Faith works! When we work our faith, it produces change in us and our circumstances!
Counting temptations all joy almost sounds like a sure way to get trampled! But there is powerful wisdom in this verse if we understand what it’s really saying! As Christians, our enemy makes sure we have more trials than we think we can handle and more tests and temptations than we think we can bear. But God has given us a way to victory right here in this verse!
The word, temptation also means trials and tests. The phrase, the trying of your faith refers to the exercising, or the working of our faith! The word patience also has several meanings. It has been translated as endurance, and some translations render it consistency.
So, when we put these verses above in present-day language, it would read, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, tests, or temptations; Knowing this, that the exercising and the working of your faith, produces endurance and consistency! But let endurance and consistency fulfill their purpose in you, that you be fully developed and lacking nothing! The devil sure doesn’t want you to know this!
God doesn’t send trials, tests or temptations. In fact, Jesus called temptation evil (Mt. 6:13). God doesn’t tempt, test or try any man (James 1:13). There are enough trials, tests and temptations already here in this world! What God does do is teach us what to do in a storm, where to look, what to say in a storm, and the advantages we have when we look through the storm with the eye of faith; counting it all joy KNOWING this – that we have another opportunity to exercise our faith, experience the power of God and get stronger and more fully developed in the process! In Christ, we always WIN! Looking through the storm with the eye of faith will win every time, because faith is the victory that overcomes the world! (I John 5:4)
With Love,
Pastor Tom