THE WHAT AND THE WHY OF TRIALS
(Part 1)
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds,
Knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
And let endurance have its perfect result
So that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.”
~~James 1:2-4~~
As I sit here on my porch on this chilly June morning, Bible open, hot coffee in my cup, I am pausing to ponder trials. I spent some time chatting with a dear friend not long ago, and her heart was so heavy with the weight of watching someone she loves spiraling downward. We all have situations we are facing. Whether the trial directly involves us or indirectly involves us as we watch people we love suffering life’s hard stuff, the fact that trials come into our lives and affect us is very real.
Trials can feel so unfair, can’t they? And then to take that feeling of unfairness and try to reconcile it with a verse like James 1:2, well that doesn’t seem possible. “Consider it pure joy, wherever you face trials of many kinds”…really? Does God really mean that, when a trial hits, we should have a “Look! A trial!!! Yippee!!!” feeling?
The Greek word used for “consider” is (hēgeomai), and generally it means to lead; to command with official authority. That definition in no way infers having a feeling, but rather it is the issuing of a command to make a choice. God is commanding us to lead our minds to think a certain way about trials. Let’s be honest. Stinkin’ thinkin’ comes ever so naturally, but when it comes to right thinking, I have to be purposeful and “lead” my mind in that direction.
When I consider the phrase, “to command with authority”, what comes to mind is how God (not my feelings) is the Authority in my life. I am not my own; “I have been bought with a price” (1 Corithians 6:20). Because I am commanded by God to lead my thoughts in a certain way, I must choose to live out 2 Corinthians 10:5, “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” You’re probably thinking, “sure Karen, that’s “what” I’m supposed to do, but “how” in the world am I supposed to do it?!” I asked myself the same question. haha Let’s keep digging.
The Greek lexicon showed that for this particular passage (hēgeomai) was being used to convey the idea of , “to consider” or “to account”, so let’s look at each of those words and see what God has to say.
The dictionary defines “consider”: to think about carefully : to regard or treat in an attentive or kindly way . Filtering God’s command to (hēgeomai) through this definition, I learn three things.
- I have to think about the trial carefully and not just go with my feelings.
- I am not to hide my head in the proverbial sand, waiting for the trial to pass, but rather I am to look at it through spiritual eyes, gazing at the trial reflectively to see where God is at work. Paul taught in 2 Corinthians 5:16, “so from now on we regard no one (nothing) from a worldly point of view.”
- I must regard my trial in a kindly way — not railing against it. What comes to my mind is a surfer riding a wave.
The same wave the surfer rides can also be the one who knocks another person down. What makes the difference? One person chose to ride the wave, while the other chose to stand there stubbornly hoping to withstand the wave. Which option is going to bring joy? The one riding the wave of course. Another thought that just came to me is that learning to “ride the wave” takes training and practice. Maybe that’s why God chooses to continue allowing/sending waves (trials) into my life.
The second word that the Greek lexicon showed for (hēgeomai) in this particular verse was “to account”. The dictionary defines “account”: a record of debit and credit entries to cover transactions involving a particular item or a particular person or concern : a statement of transactions during a fiscal period and the resulting balance : archaic, reckoning, computation : a statement or exposition of reasons, causes, or motives : a reason for an action. A “record of debit/credit to cover a transaction” hit me like a ton of bricks!!
Romans 8:26-28 says, “26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will. 28 And we KNOW that in ALL things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” Every “trial transaction” can be either a debit or a credit to my spiritual growth. The decision rests solely on how I approach it and allow it to affect me.
“Every “trial transaction” can be either a debit or a credit to my spiritual growth.
One last thing before I close. Pause to ponder “a statement or exposition of reasons, causes, or motives from the definition of account. What is God’s motive for allowing trials to come into our lives? What is coming to mind is the words that Joseph spoke to his brothers after he had been dumped in a pit, sold into slavery, unjustly enprisoned… “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done.” (Genesis 50:20).
In every trial, God has a purpose, one of them being to build our spiritual endurance, so that no matter what comes our way, we choose to obey His command to “consider it all joy” because of what it is accomplishing in our lives.
In this blog entry, we unpacked “what“ I’m supposed to do in a trial – consider it pure joy. Check back tomorrow for the next blog entry as we study through “why” (James 1:3-4).