This sounds like a weird title for a Thanksgiving post, but my study in the book of James has helped me to understand a little bit more about what it means to be thankful.
As an introvert, I do a lot of self reflection. Maybe a little too much, if I’m being honest. There are times when it can be such a burden to have your mind constantly running. I joke that this is the reason why I’m always tired; my mind is rarely at ease. Even when things are seemingly fine, there’s a little something in the back of mind that annoyingly pokes at the peace, as if to say, “This is only temporary, get back to it!” “It” being life and all of its issues.
One of the great things about being a Christian is knowing my Savior and having peace with knowing my ultimate fate. One of the awful things is knowing it for everyone else too. Whenever I meet someone new, it’s the first question that pops up into my mind — “Is this person saved?” It makes it hard to go about normal life, doesn’t it? It’s not that I don’t experience joy, or that I don’t have completely mundane tasks to complete that leave me little time to think about anything else, or that I don’t partake in worldly things (We recently “accidentally” binge watched Stranger Things season 2). But wondering and hoping and praying for people to be saved preoccupies a lot of my thoughts. Sometimes it’s mentally debilitating. The mission seems too great, it’s almost too much. And it would be if I didn’t serve a God who is greater than all of it. I guess that’s why I am where I am.
There are many times, almost daily, when I will ask God for peace in my heart. At any time during the day, I can become discouraged by the remembrance of past sins, or grieve over current ones. On days when the kids are being especially difficult, I question my purpose; whether or not I’m going to be able to raise these hooligans to become God-fearing men. This causes me to wonder why I’m so troubled. Sometimes it’s circumstantial, other times it’s an internal struggle.
I recently started studying the book of James. After spending some time in the Psalms, I decided I wanted to get back to the NT. I hadn’t read James in a while, so it seemed like a good choice. I’ve studied the book before, but not in depth. I decided that I would seek help in studying, and found John MacArthur’s sermon series on James (Side note: He preached the series in 1986. I would have been two! Thank you to whomever had the foresight to record these sermons. I owe you a deep debt of gratitude!). He said something that really resonated with me:
Now, James says, in effect, if your Christianity is genuine, it’s got to show up in trouble. I mean, frankly, if it’s no good for trouble, then it’s no good. If it’s only good for when we don’t need it, we don’t need it. If my faith in God is only good when I’m doing well, then what good is my faith? It’s to sustain me when everything goes wrong. It is a legitimate test of the genuineness of faith to see how it stands in trouble. Now, notice verse 2 for a moment, as we just kind of think this concept through a bit. “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,” poikilos, many-colored, variegated, varied. This is not to emphasize the number, but the diversity of troubles. It isn’t the idea that we’re going to have many troubles – that’s true – it’s the idea that we’re going to have all kinds of them – varied kinds. Multi-colored was the original meaning of the word, coming in all shades, and sizes, and varieties; all kinds of troubles, coming from our family, coming from our relatives, coming from so many areas of disappointment, whatever it is – all kinds of troubles.
It seems so straight-forward and simple when put in this way. My faith certainly needs testing and strengthening. Is my faith present when trouble shows up? If it’s there, is it cowardly and timid? Or strong and fearless? I think it’s a bit of both, depending on what the trouble is. It can be a little disconcerting to think that I will certainly face “all kinds of troubles.” In some ways I already have, but I know that we have a whole life of trials ahead of us. Are we prepared? Will I “count it all joy”?
In this particular sermon, JM gives several examples of people who expressed joy and gratitude in the worst of circumstances. Something I have been trying to teach H lately is that, with God, there is always a reason to be thankful. In whatever situation I am in, I have the comfort of being able to look to Christ and to be truly grateful. We say it all the time, but it’s really true. My life and soul were doomed to eternal judgment, but I have a God who loves me and gave up everything for me so that I could escape it. I have Him with me every minute of every day to help me face the troubles that come and that will come. In this sick, sad world, I can find joy in what delights Him. I’ve seen God take the ugliest things in life and make something beautiful out of them; beauty for ashes.
When I examine my faith under the lens of this book, I realize that my faith is weak. When trouble comes, my first instinct isn’t to thank God for these trials. I don’t immediately feel at ease knowing that God will see me through. But even in this, I can be thankful that God uses trials to strengthen and refine my faith. I can know Him better and can become more like Him. I can forgive those who have wronged me and genuinely love them. I can find joy in the rescue. JM puts it this way, “Trials come to put us through suffering, that we may obey in the suffering and then receive the full blessing of God. And I would say, that when you go through a trial, if you learn to obey God, you will experience the exhilaration of his blessing, that’s his promise.”
If you want to listen: https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/59-5/the-purpose-of-trials