One scorching summer day many years ago, I was driving down the highway when I pulled alongside a little compact car with one of those cheap plastic kiddie-pools tied to the top. Unfortunately, the front half had not been well secured, and the winds of highway speeds had caught up under it, tearing the little pool nearly in two. The torn half shook violently atop the car like a smiling-sea-creature-adorned blue plastic sail, and beneath it, the havoc inside the car indicated that everyone was well aware of the demise of their pool – and their afternoon plans. The two kids in the back seat were crying hysterically. The young mom was leaning between the front seats shouting something in frustration and the father was driving with a grim look of determination, undoubtedly desperate to get home and free himself from the suffocating chaos.
Life is like that sometimes, isn’t it? Plans go awry. You anticipate one thing, but something completely unexpected happens. Whether a simple afternoon of fun becomes an exercise in managing disappointment or we find our entire future radically altered through circumstance, our lives can be unpredictable.
When we face those sudden changes of direction, our reactions are as varied as the plans they interrupt. Some of us get hysterical and cry. Some of us become frustrated or angry. Some of us grind through with grim determination. Some of us plaster on a plastic smile and make the best of it. Most of us can recognize ourselves in any one of those at one time or another. How do you react when things fall apart? I mean, honestly, because for me, all too often, there is a godly reaction...and then there is MY reaction.
Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow...If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. James 1:2-3, 5-6a
If you're in the midst of one of those rough spots or direction-changes, this verse may make you groan. "JOY? Are you kidding me? I’m supposed to be HAPPY about this?"
No. That's not what this passage is saying.
Trouble is troubling Trials are trying. Let’s not pretend that isn’t true.
James recognizes that times of crisis test our faith. And THAT is where we either choose to seek Christ and His purposes in the midst of that crisis OR we choose hysteria, frustration, anger, bitterness, or grim determination to grind through under our own power. When it comes to my own trials and difficulties, my initial reactions have often been anything and everything but seeking Christ. Thankfully, we can take a deep breath and head back into the arms of Jesus, no matter what we did initially. He’s always there waiting for us.
Sometimes as believers we think passages like this one in James mean that we are supposed to smile and pretend everything is fine when it isn’t. In reality, we can use a fake smile just as effectively as a grown-up temper tantrum when it comes to creating a barrier between us and God’s healing, shaping hand. Don't pretend in front of God. If you’re angry, tell Him. If you are hurting, tell Him. If you are exhausted, confused, hysterical or frustrated, TELL HIM. And if you are just gripping the steering wheel in grim determination to get through whatever it is you are going through, tell Him that, too. The honesty is for our own sake, not God’s. He KNOWS where we are, but we make it difficult to receive His direction moving beyond those feelings and frustrations if we are in denial about having them. It is through seeking the Lord in the midst of it that our faith and endurance grow.
I will bring that group through the fire
and make them pure.
I will refine them like silver
and purify them like gold.
They will call on my name,
and I will answer them.
I will say, ‘These are my people,’
and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’” Zechariah 13:9
I’m about to say something really, really unpopular.
God cares a lot more about our holiness than our happiness.
Some of those TV preachers in shiny suits promise that God is just sitting up there in heaven waiting to bring you health and wealth and happiness - that if you just believe (and sow a "love gift"), God will bring you your “Best Life Now.”
I think we may be a little confused at times what our “Best Life” actually looks like. Is it smiling broadly, healthy and tanned, in front of our palatial home holding the keys to our shiny new car or is it living a pure and holy life, sharing the unfathomable depths of God’s love and the cleansing blood of the cross to a hurting world?
God brings us through the fires of disappointment, trial, or tragedy to mold us, shape us, purify us - to make us more and more like Jesus. When we give our lives to Christ and commit to following Him, we are called to live holy lives and be conformed to His image. Sometimes that conformation requires a lot of refining and purifying – I mean, maybe YOU walk by and people say “Oh, wow, was that JESUS? Oh, no, that was just Fred” but me? No, sadly there are far too many differentiating characteristics, even in a robe and stick-on beard. More refining, more purifying, one crisis at a time.
I don’t want to waste the crisis He is bringing me through by failing (or refusing) to see His purposes in it! I don’t understand the why’s (or where’s or how’s) but I DO know that God is good and Holy and Almighty and He wants to purify me and refine me as one of His people. Oswald Chambers in his devotional My Utmost for His Highest says:
Have you been asking God what He is going to do? He will never tell you. God does not tell you what He is going to do; He reveals to you Who He is.
The Lord will reveal Himself through our circumstances. Good ones, certainly, but bad ones especially. He doesn’t necessarily “fix it” as we would like, but He is always faithful to sustain us when we depend on Him. Life's direction changes and disappointments should find us firmly in the Word and on our knees. It is through those troubles and trials that we discover the faithfulness of Christ, and THAT is the “opportunity for great joy.” Not the problem. Not the tragedy. But the faithfulness of Christ through our dark times of difficulty. And oh, how faithful He is!! I have shouted at God in frustration, I have screamed for Him to “show up” because I’m not sure I can take anymore. I have cried out to him through floods of tears over my own sin and failures. I have sat silently in His presence humbled by the privilege of his attention. And I have worshipped him with songs of praise from my living room when my mediocre voice was the only one singing. Whatever it is, it is always real. And God is always faithful.
