The Goodness of God in Giving us Trials to Strengthen our Faith

Have you ever heard a well-meaning Christian say, "Don't pray for patience"? You know, because if you do, there will be more conflict and more strife in your life. I guess it's more important to be comfortable than holy.

In my last post, we tried to understand precisely how we walk this life when it is to be a life of faith. My introductory answer to that question is that we must look to Jesus precisely because He alone is the Founder and Perfecter of our faith. Jesus Christ is risen from the grave. He lived His life looking to His Father whom He had intentionally set always before Him...and He endured. The foundation of His endurance was the motivation He received from banking on the eternal joy He would have at His Father's right hand. He knew God would not abandon Him but would bring Him into His eternal joy in His presence. This sustained Him so much that He endured the Cross. He knew God would raise Him from the dead. I believe this is the key to our endurance...the redemptive work of Jesus Christ.

So, running the race that is set before us by faith, looking to Jesus...how do trials and tribulations play into this race? Into life? Because trials make up life. They are always there. We're either going through one, coming out of one, or on our way into one (someone once said). Life is hard. In a fallen world, it is filled with turmoil and trouble. And if you care about and love other people at all, you can't ever have unadulterated joy in this world. The pain and horror of sin and evil just won't allow it. We are to be sorrowful, yet always rejoicing. This is the weight of Christ. My conclusion on trials is that God gives them with the deliberate purpose of making us how we need to be in order to endure. This is not vicious or unloving...because endurance is how we get to Him. And we must live believing the truth of Romans 8, that what we suffer could never be worth comparing to what we obtain after we have endured: Jesus. Forever.

Let's look at James 1:2-18.

2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. 9 Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, 10 and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. 11 For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits. 12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. 16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. 18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

First of all, we must understand that all that comes from God is good. He does not do evil. Ever. Because He is God and everything He does is good. I see a massive tension for us in this statement, but not for God. He has never apologized for or ran from the fact that from Him, through Him, and to Him are all things (Romans 11:36). I am not saying that when God sends a hurricane that the deaths of people are good. I am saying, however, that God is not any less good for having sent it. There are no maverick molecules or ocean drops. He is sovereign. He runs the world, down to the last atom. You say, "Well how is He not responsible for evil, then?" Because He isn't. I am a fallen human being. I didn't create the world. I didn't nor could I make the rules. But He doesn't have to bow before logic or philosophy. You do know that, right? Eventually, you just have to step back, stop where He stops explaining, and bow before Him. He is God, you know. Maybe we have the problem in understanding but He doesn't have the problem in being. Just a thought. There is no notorious "problem of evil" for God. Just for us human beings. We just don't know how to deal with absolute, infinite divinity. That's all I'll say on that at this point. Just know that I'm operating from the fact that God does more than "allow"...He ordains and decrees all that comes to pass and in no way is evil or does evil. What is the alternative? That He does not? Without even taking on that argument at this time, you know you don't want to live in a universe like that. Just think it through.

So, I'm operating from the belief that the trials James addresses and the very reason we can count them all joy is because they come from above...from God...the One James calls the Giver of "every good gift and every perfect gift." Verse 3 begins with the word "for." It is the "because" for verse 2. You can (and must...verse 2 is a command) count every trial as joy. In actuality, without being fake or marginal or disingenuous. Precisely because trials are the means by which God produces steadfastness in you (Consider that well - it isn't like God swoops in after the fact and says, "oh how fortunate, something I can use to produce steadfastness in these human beings!"...no, He set it up deliberately because He is infinitely wise, merciful, smart, and good). Faith needs tested. Do you see that in James? Now, why? Because you need to be steadfast...you need to hold the line...you need to endure (Hebrews 10:36). And God gives you precisely what you need in order to get what you need. In God's reckoning and coming from His infinite wisdom, suffering is the path to glory. How kind He is to give you the grace to get to glory. He could leave you to your endless pursuit of indestructible joy here on earth. Which you will never find and therefore die in your sins without hope and with nothing to look forward to. Yet, God gives us trials. He gives us what we need to get to Him, to behold His beautiful face.

I want to ground this further in verse 4. Notice that steadfastness is not the goal. Do you see that? We are not moralists; we don't need to be steadfast because it's better to be or more admirable to be. We need to be steadfast because that is the path to perfection, to completeness...only through steadfastness will we reach the place where we lack nothing. When will that be? When will you be perfect? When will you lack nothing? When you get to Him. And not a moment before. Do you see, then? The "full effect" of steadfastness is getting to Him, enduring to the end and getting to Jesus. That is hard to walk in and it is hard to understand. Trials can hurt so much and be so difficult. So if what I'm saying is true, how do I take refuge in such a thing...that the only way I get home is through suffering and trial and suffering and trial come from God precisely to get me home? The answers lie in verses 5-8.

How do you make sense of all this...how do you walk in this with joy? You ask for the wisdom to understand such a truth. And you bank on an answer from Infinite Love and Holiness. We lack the ability to count trials as joy. We lack the knowledge to comprehend all the facets of suffering and we lack the wisdom to properly and most effectively apply what we do know or can know. But God is so good. He does not leave us in the dark. Ask and it will be given to you. Don't doubt. Now, that's the catch, right? You say, "Well, if my faith is shaky and I struggle, how is this promise any good for me? I mean, it says that if we ask with doubt in our hearts, we won't receive anything from God. Well, I have doubts! I don't understand...my faith is weak!" Brother, sister...you are safe. It does not say you must ask with perfect faith (you couldn't have that yet, remember?). It says simply, "ask in faith." Do you believe He is God and He is good? The answers will come. I don't want to rob the warning of its weight, however. I simply want to say that He will not break a bruised reed. You can come before Him. If you know your faith is weak, repent. Ask for the faith it takes to be heard when you pray. God is not going to turn you away when you come to Him, believer. Jesus died to kill that fear.

I think the argument in this passage is one solid argument. I don't think his discussion of rich and poor is apart from the argument on trials and counting it all joy. I believe this because nothing reveals the heart like money. And too much or not enough will reveal your heart...both can be trials. And verse 12 hammers this home once again, you have been called to remain steadfast. You will not receive the crown of life without doing so. You must undertand this. But you must see the joyful hope giving truth of the text, as well. God is giving you what you need to be steadfast so that you will receive your crown. That way you'll have something to throw at the feet of Jesus in the new heavens and the new earth.

And don't be confused or deceived into thinking God is tempting you and trying to get you to fail. The text addresses this very objection. You say, "Well, how is God not tempting me if He's sending me trials knowing that if I struggle, I will fall?" Beloved, He is not tempting you. First reason: He says He is not and He will not. That's where you start, okay? He is not because He says He's not. If you can't understand that (and it is hard), that's our problem, not His. Always remember that. However, I do think we can gain some understanding from the text. I think that James addresses this because the text is speaking of trials coming from God, but not temptations. We see that as incongruous. It is not. Hear me out. God sends trials. Temptation enters the fray when those trials from a good and holy God interact with my sinful heart. I am tempted by my own desires, not by God...this is the context in v.14-17. I am so sinful that what I receive from God is misunderstood and misapplied. He is working in us to finally and fully redeem us, not to destroy us or condemn us. The temptation is not from God, it is from me, from my sinful heart. This is why we need wisdom so badly. We need to know the difference. We need to be strong. We need to be mature.

The goodness of God is revealed in trials...He is giving us an opportunity for joy, for wisdom, for maturity, and for steadfastness. He is doing it to get us home, to give us our crown. If steadfastness is the only way, how good is He to provide us with what we need to possess it? This is hard to walk in; I know. I agree. It gives me pause because I do not yet know how I will react when the bottom drops out. But I am praying for wisdom, for faith. I want to believe He is as wonderfully good as He says He is...as I know He is...when trials come. We need stronger faith. We need to believe our God. And He is faithful and good to help us do it.