There will be trials….Rejoice.

Consider is pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds. James 1:2

Why must we have trials in this world. Why must they be so painful. Why in the world would I rejoice in them. The above bible verse is one of those that upon first hearing it and in the midst of a serious trial, just doesn’t provide the comfort you are looking for. James, the brother of Jesus, wrote these words. Did he just not get it, did it never truly have a significant trial. How could he even think about telling us to consider it pure joy. Doesn’t he know, my world is crashing down around me. Certainly he didn’t mean I should consider it pure joy that my family has been torn apart and now feel completely broken.

I have studied the book of James multiple times, but it wasn’t until I heard a sermon series from Ben Stuart covering the book of James, that these words truly came to life, and truly made sense. It was after hearing his sermon on this bible verse, that I could start to understand and believe these words.

To summarize the message, we can easily just say that struggles will make us stronger, much like exercise helps the body. Unfortunately, often times that explanation alone isn’t enough to fully motivate us through a serious trial. I often found myself thinking, this trial isn’t making me better, it is making be bitter. It isn’t making me stronger, it is making be start to doubt God. Ben concludes that only through trials can we really gain wisdom. Through these trials, our wisdom can ultimately teach us three very important things.

· We should learn to not put our hopes and dreams in things that can fade.

· We should find that although pain is very real and hurts, it is temporary.

· It should turn our heads upward to put our hope and focus in God.

We rage against pain because there is a part of us that screams it should not be this way. It screams that is hasn’t always been this way and it shouldn’t be this way. That is correct. It hasn’t always been this way and won’t always be. God tells us that he didn’t build this world this way, He built it glorious, but it broke due to sin. But, by God’s mercy, he has created a time to come that will be perfect and without pain. Trials can help us to move our hope from things that fade into a focus and hope in Him as well as realizing that this pain is temporary and help prepare us for a Glorious and perfect eternity.

Ben delivers this message much better and should be enjoyed here. http://www.vimeo.com/7573862