Finding Joy in the Journey

James 1:1–12 KJV 1900

James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways. Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted: But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways. Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

INTRO

Vs. 1 “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.” From the first verse, we get a little bit of the context of the book of James. James addresses this letter to the “twelve tribes which are scattered abroad,” most likely to the Jewish Christians who are scattered abroad in the Dispersion. If we were to look in Acts 2, we will find that there were multitudes of devout Jews at Jerusalem who came from “out of every nation under heaven.”

By the writing of this letter, persecution against Christians was at an all time high so that’s they were scattered abroad. Most likely, they would’ve been facing poverty, social injustice, violence, and spiritual conflict. They were all going through all these hardships and difficulties, and James writes to them and says, “Greeting. Count it all joy.” That’s interesting, isn’t it? If I were the Christians who received that letter, I’d be like, “Huh? You want us to what now? You know we’re out here struggling and suffering right?” Don’t you just hate those people—when you’re having just a rough day and they go, “Turn that frown upside down.” “No! I just wanna have a bad day in peace.” Sometimes we’re like that aren’t we? No, but James wanted to be a blessing to his brothers and sisters—that even though, they were all going through this season of pain and testing that there is a reason to rejoice.

One of the best tests of Christian maturity is trials. When God allows us to go through personal trials, we not only discover what kind of faith we have, but we also grow in our faith and develop Christian character.

REJOICE IN DIFFICULTIES (VS. 2-4)

James is encouraging believers to “count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations.” “Divers temptations” refers to trials of various kinds. The word “divers” is the same Greek word used in 1 Peter 1:6 where the Bible once again encourages us to greatly rejoice when going through “manifold” temptations. This description of the trials of life being divers and manifold literally means variegated—they come in different shapes and sizes. One word study I read said that “it is used to describe the skin of a leopard, the different-coloured veinings of marble, or an embroidered robe… meaning changeful [or] diversified.” They take on different forms—sometimes, they are physical/health complications, relational problems, or even financial issues.

James uses the expression of “falling into” these trials to give the idea of being suddenly caught up in or surrounded by something like stumbling into a situation you didn’t plan for. When Jesus taught the parable of the good Samaritan, Jesus uses the same expression in Luke 10:30 saying that the man “fell among thieves.” Now, he wasn’t intentionally looking for trouble, but he unexpectedly encountered it. When trials come up in our lives, they seem to come to us as a surprise, don’t they?

God, through His Word, is encouraging us to rejoice in difficulties. That means that in whatever situation we are (the good, the bad, or the ugly), we are to be joyful; in fact, we are to “count it all joy.” This gives the sense of being “wholly” joyful; in other words, we are to be fully joyful or only joyful. Because we considered the context earlier, we know “temptations” here in vs. 2 refers to tests, trials, or afflictions, and not temptations to sin. God tests our faith; He cannot tempt us to sin. That’s why he says to “count it all joy”—not because sin is joyful, but because going through trials tests and strengthens our faith.

But why rejoice in difficulties? Vs. 3 says, “Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.” For us to fully understand this view of trials as all joy, we have to realize that God allows trials to test our faith and produce patience. God is not sadistic that He finds pleasure in our suffering or desires us to suffer just for the sake of suffering. When we go through trials, we have to change our perspective to see that God is only allowing trials in our lives for our good. It can only be for our good because He is good.

Twice the psalmist says in Psalm 136:1 and 107:1: “O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: For his mercy endureth for ever.”

James knew the truth of God’s goodness and holiness because if we skip down to vs. 13, the Bible tells us: “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”

Look, friend, God is not in the business of breaking down your faith; in fact, He wants to build up your faith. Trials reveal what faith we do have, and the truth is He already knows how much faith we have—He already knows how much we trust and believe in Him. But God allows trials so that our faith may be evident to ourselves and to everyone around us. I will say this though—trials reveal our faith, but they don’t produce our faith. We know that Bible says that “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

We always have a choice, whether to face difficulties with faith or unbelief and grumbling. When we receive trials with faith, it produces patience; but when we receive trials with unbelief and all our complaints, it produces discouragement and bitterness.

Consider the story of Job. The Bible tells us that this man Job was “perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil”—not that he was perfect or sinless, but that he was blameless and that he had a strong relationship with God. When trials came to his life and when he literally lost everything that he had, he faced that situation with faith. The Bible records for us in Job 1:20-22 that “Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, and said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.”

On the other hand, we find Job’s wife as an example of facing trials with unbelief and grumbling. Job 2:9 says, “Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die.” We found two responses and two different kinds of faith. One resulted in patience, while the other resulted in bitterness. This is exactly why James encouraged us to “count it all joy.” Counting it all joy is faith’s response to a time of trial.

Vs. 4 “But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” It’s kind of like baking a cake. All the different ingredients that you put in like eggs, flour, and butter. You don’t taste all these individual flavours; it’s about mixing them all together and putting it in the oven. Then, out comes this end product. See, that’s God’s desire for us. We tend to focus on every little thing, and we don’t think about the end result. At the end of our lives, He wants us to “be perfect (mature) and entire, wanting nothing.” Sometimes, these ingredients that He adds in our lives may not taste great to us, but He’s saying, “No, let it do it’s work.” It’s building character in you—it’s making you be like Christ. These trials that you go through or are going through aren’t a waste. They’re not a coincidence or an accident. This is something God wants to use in your life. We rejoice in that because trials can prove a wonderful work of God in us.

REQUEST DIVINE WISDOM (VS. 5-8)

Vs. 5 “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” He’s saying here that if you don’t understand that these trials are actually for your benefit, then pray and ask God. He’ll give you the wisdom to understand; in fact, He’ll give it to you generously.

Romans 8:28 says, “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 wants for you to know that He works all things for your good. If you love God—if you seek to follow Him, all things will work together for good.

When we pray to God during trials, we tend to pray for the removal of trials. Personally, I have an autoimmune disease called colitis. I can tell you right now, colitis is definitely not fun. But over 5 years ago when I first started having symptoms of this, I would daily, without skipping a beat, keep praying to God to remove what is happening to my body. “God, I don’t want this anymore. It’s painful and very uncomfortable.” But when I finally received all the test results and I was diagnosed with colitis, I realized that sometimes God’s plan is not to remove trials but to give us grace and guidance through those trials. Every doctor and specialist have told me that I’ll have colitis all my life, and it’s something that I’ve already accepted and that God gave me peace over. If He decides to remove it, awesome; but if He decides to leave me with it, I know that He’s using it in my life to keep me in check—to always recognize Him and trust Him in all things. The point I’m trying to get at is when we pray to God to remove our trials, sometimes God tells us that we’re asking amiss—we’re asking for the wrong thing. God has a purpose for the tests He gives, and He wants us to ask Him for His wisdom to make the right use for them—to grow our faith in Him and to seek His guidance for our lives.

“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God.” Can I also say this? Why are we confused when trials happen? We ask, “Why is this happening to me right now? I don’t get it; I just simply don’t understand.” I fear that we ask for wisdom from somewhere else away from God, and that’s why we find no answers. The Bible does not say, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask a friend” or “let him ask Google or ChatGPT.” I understand what that’s like. When I first started having symptoms of my colitis, I tried to do some googling to find answers, and you know what Google told me. Google basically said, “You are probably gonna die tomorrow.” I’m just kidding, but googling health issues are the worst. It’ll just worry you with the worst possible scenario.

But the Bible says, “Let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” He’s willing to give—He won’t judge you—He won’t scold you for it. In fact, he leaves us with a promise at the end of that verse—“and it shall be given him.” A few chapters later, James says, “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.”

But notice what vs. 6 says: “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.” He’s willing to give, but we must first be willing to ask in faith. When we pray, we ought to pray with the belief that He will and without doubting His ability or desire to give us His wisdom. In Matthew 9, two blind men followed Jesus crying for His help and healing. The Bible says, “And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying, and saying, Thou son of David, have mercy on us. And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord. Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you.” There must be “nothing wavering”—no doubts, no second thoughts, no staggering at the promise of God.

Don’t doubt because when we doubt, James says that we’re like “a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed” or like “a double minded man [who] is unstable in all his ways.” Vs. 7 even says, “For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.” When we doubt God and lack in faith, we shouldn’t expect to receive anything from God because it shows that we lack a foundation—we’re up and down like the waves and unstable in all our ways.

The Bible uses this illustration of a wave for a doubter so fittingly. When we think of waves, we can describe them as being restless, unstable, and easily driven with the wind. Similar to a wave, the doubter is sometimes lifted up by faith, but then gets tossed down again from his unbelief.

The Bible also describes a doubter as a “double-minded man.” My older brother will admit to this. Whenever he goes shopping, he can be a double-minded man. There’s been times where he really liked a shirt or a sweater, and he can’t decide which colour to buy it in. They both look good, but they’re pretty expensive. He’ll stand there in the middle of the store debating if he should go for the grey or black one. He might pace around until finally he goes, “You know what, I’m just gonna go ahead and buy both” or sometimes he goes, “Forget it, I just won’t buy either of them.” A double-minded man is someone who is in the middle ground—he can’t make up his mind between faith and unbelief.

One commentator put it this way, “A double-minded man is literally two-souled. The man of two souls, who has one for the earth, and another for heaven: who wishes to secure both worlds; he will not give up earth, and he is loath to let heaven go.” We can’t please God having one foot in the world, and the other with God because that instability affects who we are; we are unable to be consistent in our conversation and actions. Don’t doubt; don’t be like a wave that wavereth or a double-minded who’s unstable in all his ways. Instead, humbly trust and pray with faith to the one, true God who gives wisdom generously.

RECOGNIZING TRUE RICHES (VS. 9-12)

Vs. 9-11 “Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted: But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.”

Just as much as the lowly brother should rejoice when he is exalted; the rich should also rejoice when they are brought to humiliations by trials. Suffering can be a good thing. In fact, sometimes the riches are the things that are unstable. When life is so easy and so good, recognize that that may not be the best situation for you. Trials serve to remind the rich and the high that though they are comfortable in this life, it is still only this life, which fades as the grass grows brown and the flowers fade away.

I never liked gardening, but my parents absolutely loved it. At my parents front and backyard, they have an apple tree, a bunch of different flowers, and even tomato plants. Growing up, when springtime came, I knew what that meant—help with all the weeding and planting and all that fun stuff. I would tell them how much I felt bad for gardeners because they work so hard to make everything look so nice for a few months just for all the snow and ice to destroy them all over again.

The Bible tells us that riches are just like that; they’re like flowers that could be here one day and then they just wither and they’re gone the next. Don’t get me wrong. Money and riches, in and of itself, aren’t bad; as a matter of fact, we need money. In this economy, we need lots of it. But my point is if all we live for in this life is money and riches and when we place our identity into things that will just fade away, we will fade away also. How much better it is to put our life and our identity into things that will never fade—into Jesus who will never fail!

Galatians 2:20 “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”

I love how James ends off our text for today. Vs. 12 says, “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.” He says, “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation.” You make it through these difficult times—you persevere and you show your genuine and strong faith in Him, God says blessed is that man “for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.” We are reminded that it is worth it to endure temptations because God promises that we will receive the crown of life for remaining steadfast and demonstrating our love for Jesus by resisting temptation.

But I find it interesting that he would use that phrase “to them that love him.” We can come to the conclusion that those who make it through the test are those who actually love Him. It’s easy to love God if He gives you everything and makes you feel so good and make your life so comfortable, but what about when He says, “You know what, I want to put some trials in your life—I want to test your faith because it’s gonna produce this character and patience in you and you’re not just living your life to just have a good time and just to be free from pain. I want you to recognize Me in your life, and I want you to be more like my Son.” So persevere through those trials; allow God to use them to purify you because He says when you’ve made it through, you’ll receive that crown life that He has promised. He’s talking about eternal life where there will be a place where all of this pain will be gone and where we will experience victory, joy, and the matchless reward of eternity spent with God.

CONCLUSION

Is God testing you today? Are you discouraged—disappointed? Do you feel weak—unmotivated to keep on? Friend, can I encourage you? You don’t have to do it alone. May I remind you the Bible says, “If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God.” It’s when we do it alone that we fail, but when we’re with God, guiding us with His wisdom which He gives so generously, we can navigate through all the valleys and storms and pass the test. When you look back at it and even right now in that deep, dark valley or turbulent storm, you can count it all joy because God is real and God is near and He is creating a work in you that you may not be able to see right now. “But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” God loves you, friend, and He wants you to succeed and receive that "crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.” But for now, keep praying—keep trusting—keep on keeping on and find joy in the journey.