THE WHAT AND THE WHY OF TRIALS
(Part 2)
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds,
Knowing that the testing of your faith develops endurance.
And let endurance finish its work
So that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.”
~~James 1:2-4~~
So yesterday we unpacked “what“ I’m supposed to do in a trial – consider it pure joy. Now let’s tackle “why” I am commanded to do that. The answer is found in verses 3-4. Let’s look at the main words in the phrase “We know that the testing of our faith develops endurance”.
The word for testing used here is <dokimion> and it means proof. Think about how, when you were in school, the teacher would finish teaching a chapter. What came next? A test. Why? To see if you truly learned what you had been taught. Spiritually speaking, that’s the purpose of a trial in our lives. Everyday as we open God’s word, the Spirit is teaching us. So it’s only natural that God then gives a trial (I mean, a test, haha) to see if we merely read the truth, or if we actually retained it and allowed it to shape our thoughts and behaviors.
The word develops (katergazonmai) means to result in or to bring about. When I looked up “develop” in the dictionary, it said, “to make visible or manifest”. Pause to ponder that. What is inside is made visible through the development process. Remember the “olden days”when people took pictures with actual cameras and not smartphones.
We put the roll of film in the camera and commenced taking pictures. We couldn’t visibly see the pictures we had taken until we took the film to the drug store to be developed. I know I’m showing my age. LOL After a week or so, we could go pick up our pictures. It was so exciting! But you know, sometimes among the good pictures was a dud, something that just didn’t come out right – maybe the picture was out of focus, maybe it wasn’t aimed just right and someone’s head was missing. But the point is that we didn’t know whether the pictures were good or bad until they were developed. Now apply that spiritually. As we study God’s word, we are taking mental pictures of what the Spirit is revealing to us. We may even journal about what we learned. But how will we know what we actually learned without the developing process of a trial to see if the truth is lived out in our lives?
Now let’s visit the word “endurance” (hypomonē). In the Greek language it means “cheerful endurance, constancy”. I never assume that I know what a word really means. Our culture has really done a job on distorting words’ true meanings. The word “cheerful” is defined in the dictionary to mean, full of good spirits : ungrudging : likely to expel gloom or worry. Oh my word! Pause to ponder that!! The word “ungrudging” ties into my attitude about the trial. Remember when we noted in the last blog entry that an aspect of “consider” was to regard a hard time in a kindly way? Our thought process and the resulting attitude has everything to do with whether or not our “faith endurance” grows and shows. And did you note that, when we have the right attitude about our trials, it is likely to expel gloom and worry? Think about that! When our focus is on God in the midst of our trial, we are able to trust that He is faithful and has a purpose in it all. BUT, when our focus is on ourselves and our comfort during a trial, gloom and worry is the by-product. How you are “feeling” is an indicator as to where you focus lies. Wow…and ouch.
How you are “feeling” is an indicator as to where you focus lies.
The word “endurance” is defined as the ability to withstand hardship or adversity. What’s coming to mind is how Daniel 3:1-30 tells us how Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were able to withstand the fiery furnace that had been heated 7x hotter than ever before. How? Because there was a fourth Man in the fire with them!! In the same way, God is with us in the fiery trials we face too! How cool is THAT?!!
The next phrase we need to look at is “let endurance finish its work”. The word “let” takes my mind back to the last blog entry where we determined that we have a choice to “ride the wave” of a trial, or get knocked down by the trial. We have to cooperate with God’s process during the trial. We have to allow God to finish His “work”.
The Greek word for work (ergon) means deed, thing done; used collectively of an aggregate of actions. What the heck does aggregate mean? Well I’m glad you asked because I looked it up in the dictionary. Haha It means the whole sum or amount : any of several hard inert materials (such as sand, gravel, or slag) used for mixing with a cementing material to form concrete, mortar, or plaster. That makes me think about the blacktop driveway at my house. There is sand, gravel, and slag in that blacktop. Each one of those things by itself would not be a firm or lasting surface upon which to walk or drive. But working in some cementing material and those things collectively become a firm foundation upon which to walk or drive. Wow!! Now think of that analogy from a spiritual perspective. The sand, gravel, or slag can represent each individual trial that we face in life. Separately, those things are uncomfortable and unstable to walk on, but when God’s work is completed, mixing life’s trials with our faithful endurance, the result is a firm faith foundation upon which we can live our lives.
I can consider trials pure joy because
“I am certain that God, who began the good work (ergon) within you,
will continue His work until it is finally finished
on the day when Christ Jesus returns”.
~~Philippians 1:6~~