Trusting in the Faithfulness of God

When we read the Word of God, we find that people have always suffered trials in their lives. We can look at the lives of some of God’s greatest men and women of old, and we know that they went through great pains and suffering, both in their personal lives and in their ministries. We think of people like Noah who was the ONLY righteous man alive during his time on earth. Imagine how difficult that was for him. Abraham followed God even though he did not know where God might lead him or what he may encounter in his life. Moses suffered great times of trial, even though he walked in obedience to God as he led God’s people through the wilderness. To Daniel, God was faithful when he was thrown in the lion’s den...and to Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego as they faced the fiery furnace. When the king looked into the fire, he saw that “a 4^th man” was there to deliver them, even in that difficult time. To Paul, as he endured prison and persecution wherever he went, and to the Apostle John as he was exiled on the Isle of Patmos for the sake of the Gospel, God was faithful. He used that time of persecution to reveal His plan for the end of the age that we are experiencing even now. God will work ALL things together for good...if we will learn how to allow His purpose to be fulfilled through us...even during times of difficulty.

I want to share a portion of scripture with you that I believe, if we put it into practice, will change our lives. It is found in the book of James, chapter 1, verses 1-4. Let’s take a look at those scriptures right now; 

“James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,

To the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad:

Greetings.

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing." 

1.  In the first verse here, James is identifying himself as the writer of this epistle, or this letter, and he is writing to the Jews who are scattered everywhere. Now it is believed that this James was the half-brother of Jesus, and he seems to be well known by the Jews because he needed no further explanation other than his first name. He identifies himself as James...and then he calls himself “a bondservant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ”. Now this is a strange title he is giving to himself, because a “bondservant” would actually be considered a slave. And so what James is saying here is that he is a “slave” of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not often that people want to think of themselves as slaves of God, but that is exactly what James is telling us here that he is. 

When you think of a slave, or a servant, you immediately think of someone who is obedient to his Master. When I think of a slave, I think of someone who does everything his Master tells him to do without question. Whenever his Master tells him to do something, he does it immediately. In other words, a slave lives ONLY to serve his Master, and that is what James is saying here...that he lives only to serve God and the Lord Jesus Christ in everything. In Luke 6:46, Jesus asked a very important question. He said, “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?” Many times we are guilty of the same thing. We pray to our “Lord” and we ask Him to do things for us, but yet we fail to be obedient to do even the things He tells us in His Word that we should be doing. And so we need to think about that...are we also guilty of calling Jesus Lord, but we do not obey Him in everything? Like James, God’s desire for us is to be a bond-servant...a slave for Him. 

2. Then also in verse 1 of James chapter 1, he identifies who he is writing to. He says he is writing “To the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad” He is writing to the Jews who had been scattered because of persecution...they were running for their lives. Many people today are also doing just that...they are in a strange land because of persecution. But I want you to think about this for a minute...the amazing thing that persecution accomplished for God is that wherever the Israelites went, they shared the gospel, and the message of Jesus Christ was spread throughout the land. Even in times of great trials and persecution, God has a greater purpose, and a greater plan than what we can see at the time. So James is writing to those Jews who were being persecuted and had scattered abroad and were taking the Gospel of Jesus Christ to other parts of the world. 

3.  Then in verse 2, James tells the people to do a very strange thing. Think about this for a minute...he says, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,” He tells them to count it, or consider it all joy when trials come their way. 

So let’s talk about that. Just what kinds of trials is James talking about here? Well, we all face trials in our lives, and there are 4 different types of trials that I want to mention here. I am sure you can think of others. 

• Temptation - This is an enticement to sin...to disobey God. We should know that God NEVER tempts us, but even when we are tempted, God can use it for good...especially if we do not give in to sin and if we remain faithful to Him. 
• Sickness - We know that in the Name of Jesus, we have authority over sickness and disease, but until the healing comes, we can be sure that God is in control and He will use it to help us to grow to be more like Christ in our lives. 
• Persecution - Jesus was our example when it comes to persecution. In John 15:18-19 He said, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.” Jesus warned us that persecution would come...but even in times of persecution, He is using these trials to build our faith and to make us more like Jesus. We can hold on to our faith in God during times of persecution.
• Trouble - Whether it is any kind of adversity, affliction or whatever the circumstances may be, and whether it is sent by God or allowed by God...it doesn’t matter. God has given us a promise in 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.” God will use every trial for our good and to further the Gospel if we will learn to trust Him in it. 

Most of the time when these things come into our lives, we face them with fear, frustration, anger and doubt. But God wants us to learn to have victory over the trials and difficulties in our lives. He wants us to grow from them, He wants us to become more mature in our faith. 

So what do we do when trials come that will help us to stay strong? 

• James tells us in verse 2, “count it all joy when you fall into various trials”. We need to learn to consider our trials as a thing of joy...because we KNOW that God is faithful! And we KNOW that He is increasing our faith! And we KNOW that He is teaching us endurance. And we KNOW that even in the midst of our trials and suffering, He is being glorified and we KNOW that we are sharing in the likeness of our Lord. So we need to choose to have a joyful attitude in our times of trouble because He is working patience in our lives. 
• We can be obedient in everything He has called us to do. We need to be faithful to the things we know that we should do, the things we are committed to doing. We should continue our prayer time and our Bible study. We need to do everything we know He desires of us, even when we are not sure what to do next. We need to be faithful to God, knowing that He will be faithful to us.
• We need to be an encouragement to others. One of the greatest ways I have found to overcome depression and sadness in my own life is to reach out to someone else and help them. No matter how bad life gets for us, if we look around just a little bit, we can always find someone who has it worse than we do. We need to find someone we can be a blessing to and encourage them in the Lord. 

The truth is that God is faithful no matter what may be going on in our lives. During difficult times we can be certain that He is working patience in our lives, and He is maturing our faith...so that the next time a trial comes, we are stronger and have more confidence to face the difficulties it brings with it. Trouble is a universal problem...everybody will endure difficulties at some point in their lives. But we can hold on to the promise given us in Psalm 9:10 “Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.” The best thing for us to do during times of difficulty is to learn to trust God no matter what may come our way, and “consider it all joy”!