Do you remember going to the doctor as a kid, and getting a shot! OUCH!! WAAAAAA!!! Oh the pain! I hated that. It made me angry, frustrated and sore… “Why?” I’d ask… The nurse would say… “I know it hurts honey, but it’s good for you”
I love that don’t you?
“I know it hurts but it’s good for you” …
Sheesh! Come on! WHO BUYS INTO THAT STUFF??
But she was right. Pain at times though it hurts, does us good. I wish we never had to deal with pain, and the variety of methods it uses to inflict itself: betrayal, jealousy and meanness, among others. But it is a reality that we do. We have storms, and those storms are necessary because they have away of turning us to God.
In fact we are told:
(James 1:2) My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
(James 1:3) Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
(James 1:4) But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
Okay so here we are with the “inspired” Word! God is speaking to us about trials and temptations; the trying of our faith!!! Lets see what He says …. Okay, wait! “count it all joy”! What? Not only must I concede to the fact that it is good for me, but also I should rejoice about it? How can that be?
Look at the Message version of this text
(James 1:2) Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides.
(James 1:3) You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors.
(James 1:4) 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.
A sheer gift… LOL… uh um…what? Oh wait You’re serious about that God?
Um, but what happens when people do me wrong? How about if someone connives behind the scenes against me, and their conniving works? Surely I should not have joy about that? What about when someone hurts me, or…. Oh I see… I have to count it all joy all the time…
Rejoice – that is the Word from God concerning our trials. That is His answer… that’s a tough one…
Don’t worry about tomorrow
(Matthew 6:25) Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
(Matthew 6:26) Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
(Matthew 6:27) Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
(Matthew 6:28) And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
(Matthew 6:29) And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
(Matthew 6:30) Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
(Matthew 6:31) Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
(Matthew 6:32) (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
(Matthew 6:33) But seek ye first the
Don’t fear man
Psalm 27:1 The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
Love your enemies
(Matthew 5:44) But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
These are the words that God gives to us about life, trials and battles. That the pain will do us good, the hurt will work something in us, the sorrow will be seed to some new sprout of blessing in our life!
There are a few others things to remember as well:
God will turn it for good
(Romans 8:28) And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
He will fight our battles
(Exodus 14:14) The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.
He sees the lie
(Acts 5:3) But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?
Give it to God, I think is the key here… Let God have His way… And keep that joy unspeakable … In the sun and in rain – REJOICE – GOD HAS A PLAN Look for God to: split the seas, raise the dead and silence the enemy!
