"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." (James 1: 2-4)
James is telling us that apart from trials, our faith and character will never achieve their full potential. In fact, he is promising us that our suffering will result in our characters being perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. God is promising us perfection through His glorification which can only be brought about through the testing of our faith. But this is not the only verse discussing the binding of suffering and the deepening of our faith . . .
"But rejoice when you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed." (1 Peter 4:13)
Peter is saying that we should rejoice in our suffering because it will bring about a gladness and thanksgiving when we see Jesus face-to-face that is not possible without our trials. (He is also reminding us that even Jesus faced trials and suffering, did we think we were going to escape that as well?)
Now let me be clear, God is not expecting us to be happy when enduring trials and pitfalls. This world is a cruel place, cursed by sin, tainted by the evil one and his armies, and God is not expecting us to paste a fake smile on our face and proclaim to the world that we are unencumbered by the despair we are enduring. No! God is reminding us that for those in Christ, suffering is an opportunity to move closer to God, and to grow in our faith. That despite our pain, we recognize a deeper truth is in play.
"For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God." (Romans 8: 18-21)
First God is promising us perfection, now He is promising us freedom and glory. Freedom from sin, freedom from pain, freedom from loss, freedom from being tempted, freedom from loneliness, freedom from worry, freedom from fear. And regarding glory, just like creation itself, our bodies long for the glorification to come. Our souls have been redeemed, but our bodies are still bound by the curse. We long for the internal battle over our will to cease, for our bodies to no longer grow tired and old, we long for our new bodies, strong, invincible, capable of whatever we dream and whatever God charges us to do!
" . . . we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." (Romans 5: 3-5)
Did you catch that what Paul is saying in the verses above (Romans 5: 3-5) line up exactly with what James has written in his first chapter? The promise that our suffering is not in vain, that perfection will be achieved through God's love poured through the Holy Spirit working in our lives! You know, perfection is something that a lot of people seek throughout their lives. Whether its our skills in sports or music, our relationships, finances, our careers, or our spiritual journey, perfection is the goal of many as we journey through this life. Yet perfection is only possible through the power of God, using trials to deepen our faith, producing hope and character that is impossible for us to achieve left to our own devices. And can you imagine being pronounced "perfect" by God Himself?
Wow! It always amazes me how God does all the heavy lifting in our relationship. He makes the first move to call my heart to repentance. He draws close to me and reveals truth about His character through His Word. He walks beside me through every trial and challenge, even when everyone else leaves me, He remains. What an awesome God we serve!
Let's spend the remaining part of our time together examining in detail the process of God's refinement of our hearts, minds and souls. The first fruit of suffering is teaching us how to endure, or how to be steadfast. God reminds us that we are blessed when we remain faithful, despite our emotions and earthly perspective. And notice what Romans 5 doesn't say. It doesn't say that we will be rewarded with a relief of our pain and suffering or even that our circumstances will change. (That is up to God Himself to determine) He does, however, promise that our suffering will not be wasted and in addition to growing stronger through our growing endurance, our suffering will produce character. Character in this context is leaning on God, trusting Him on a deeper level, and the more we trust God, the more likely we are to consistently make right choices. We become men and women of character, truly bearing the image of God, pleasing Him with our faith.
And look at what character produces, hope! Hope is a quality only born out of faith. It is not immediately bestowed on a new Christian, despite our change in eternal destiny. For we are men and women endowed with temporal perspectives and hope not earned in the crucible of suffering will flee at the first sign of extended trouble. But hope that has been born from faithful endurance and character; that hope becomes the new baseline for our eternal perspective. That kind of hope is fully charged with the belief that there is no doubt where our future lies, sharing eternity with the King of Kings, bathed in the glory of His presence. Our fellowship with fellow Christians starts to become deeper as we share our personal stories of how God has equipped us with hope, despite our enemy best attempts to steal, kill and destroy each one of us. (John 10:10)
There are many other verses dealing with suffering in the Bible, way too many to address in this short blog. But my prayer is that you will embrace these promises, drive them deep in your heart, remembering that they are given to us by God Himself, and trust Him with all of your challenges, setbacks, losses and despair. He is our stronghold, He is our comforter, He is our provider, He is the only One capable of restoring our brokenness and equipping us for the glory to come. "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope." (Romans 15:13)
I hope that these verses have been encouraging in their truths, they always reminded me that He is with me, "He is close to those to the brokenhearted; He rescues those whose spirits are crushed." (Psalm 34:8) And I"ll close with one of my favorite verses, "Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; He will neither fail you nor abandon you." (Deuteronomy 31:8)
