I found this passage timely for us as we have faced many trials in getting here to Abyei!
James tells us to “consider it pure joy” – let us not get discouraged.
Testing of our faith produces perseverance – further on, in vs 13, James clarifies that it is not God tempting us. The attacks of the devil, attempts to discourage us, attempts to make us doubt, attempts to make us give up, come so that we might grow stronger in our faith. The more we cling to God in every situation, the more we recognise that we can do nothing without him, the stronger we become in our faith – and the more responsibility God will give us. The flip side of that is that the stronger we become in our faith the harder the devil will try to derail us.
Only when we persevere will we grow to be mature and complete, not lacking anything. From the letter to the Philippians we know that we are works in progress, we will not be complete until the day Jesus comes again. So we need to keep persevering. It is not easy!
As we do so let us ask God for wisdom… not simply knowledge of how to do things but the wisdom to do them the way he wants. We need to ask in faith because James is telling us that if we doubt we won’t receive; if we are faltering in our faith we need to ask for strength to continue.
God knows it isn’t easy – He understands how we really feel – but He is always there. He is the one who created us, He knows exactly how we think, how we work, and He has a plan for us.
As we took the step of faith to come here to Abyei, we trusted him, the devil did not like what we were doing, he tried to stop the mission – I got to a point of giving up… After two failed flights being told the “new” date we wanted to return was a “no fly” day seemed to be the final straw. But, having been encouraged to take a moment to stop and think, I was able to recall the call of God to come here, remember that the people of Abyei were waiting for us, to ask God again what He wanted and to explore the alternative. We set some tests – could local team members be away for a week; could an international flight be moved for a reasonable cost – as these boxes were ticked it became clear that God had not changed His call, we simply needed to keep the faith and trust Him to get us here.
May we continue to trust God in all situations, to smile through the challenges the devil puts in our way, knowing that God will give generously to all who ask Him in faith.