A Long Obedience in the Same Direction

James 4:1–10 NET

Where do the conflicts and where do the quarrels among you come from? Is it not from this, from your passions that battle inside you?You desire and you do not have; you murder and envy and you cannot obtain; you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask; you ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly, so you can spend it on your passions. Adulterers, do you not know that friendship with the world means hostility toward God? So whoever decides to be the world’s friend makes himself God’s enemy. Or do you think the scripture means nothing when it says, “The spirit that God caused to live within us has an envious yearning”?But he gives greater grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.”So submit to God. But resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and make your hearts pure, you double-minded.Grieve, mourn, and weep. Turn your laughter into mourning and your joy into despair. Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you.

James 5:7–11 NET

So be patient, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s return. Think of how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the ground and is patient for it until it receives the early and late rains. You also be patient and strengthen your hearts, for the Lord’s return is near. Do not grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be judged. See, the judge stands before the gates!As an example of suffering and patience, brothers and sisters, take the prophets who spoke in the Lord’s name. Think of how we regard as blessed those who have endured. You have heard of Job’s endurance and you have seen the Lord’s purpose, that the Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

James 1:12–16 NET

Happy is the one who endures testing, because when he has proven to be genuine, he will receive the crown of life that God promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each one is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desires. Then when desire conceives, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is full grown, it gives birth to death. Do not be led astray, my dear brothers and sisters.

James 1:

James 5:19–20 NET

My brothers and sisters, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back, he should know that the one who turns a sinner back from his wandering path will save that person’s soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

Have you ever had to listen as someone talked negatively about someone you knew and loved? And you couldn’t even formulate the words to respond, because the person they were describing sounded nothing like the person you knew?

There was a popular Christian blogger - well, as popular as any Christian blogger can be - who I used to follow until something like that happened. He seemed to have some really worthwhile ideas. Actually, I still think a lot of those ideas are worthwhile. But one day I was talking with a friend who was also a popular Christian blogger, and she began to tell me about the way this man treated his female colleagues at various conferences and speaking engagements. I was confused. Here’s this guy who frequently writes about justice and liberation and calls himself a Jesus Feminist, and he is demeaning toward women? That didn’t sound like the guy whose work I read, but my friend had never lied to me before… Something had to give.

A few months later, something gave, in the form of news breaking. His (now ex-) wife had called the police reporting him for assaulting her. He told them she was lying and they believed him, the clergy man and police chaplain, over her, refusing to arrest him. Family court, however, interpreted events differently, and awarded her full custody. He had sent her several abusive and threatening emails detailing what would happen if she tried to divorce him or make his actions public. They were in the court documents, which had become public record. I haven’t read a word the man has written since.

What does that have to do with today’s passage? Well, I often hear negative stories about God, and they sound nothing like the God I know. They sound… well, they sound abusive. Stories like “I’m a recovering addict, and God tested me by sending someone to offer me free drugs.” Or “God tested me by taking my family away.” Or “I have a fatal illness, but I know it’s just a test from God to see how faithful I’ll be.”

I’ll be honest: if I ever find out that’s what God is really like, that will be the last day I worship God.

I get where people are coming from. I do. We have this story we like to tell about a God who is in control of absolutely everything. And that God is loving, and has what’s best for us in mind, so the only possible explanation for bad things is that they’re actually good things in disguise. After all, God tested Abraham to see if he was willing to sacrifice Isaac, right? [More on that story in a couple of weeks] It’s comforting in its strange way - I may not understand God’s plan, but if I can just trust that God has a plan, and that this all leads to something good, that’s better than thinking the bad stuff I’m going through is without reason.

But James says no. Nuh-uh. No way. Absolutely not. God is not responsible for any of your temptations. God did not make evil things happen in your life. God is there with you when the bad happens, and God will be there to say well done if you make it through, to help you up if you fall, or simply to hold you if there’s no more getting up to be done.If there is a way to turn a curse into a blessing, God will be the one to find that way, and then show it to you. But God did not have a hand in the cursing in the first place. And thank God for that.