Joy in all things!

James 1:1-18

“James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,

To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations:

Greetings. ²Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.⁴ Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. ⁵ If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. ⁶ But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. ⁷ That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. ⁸ Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.

⁹ Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position.¹⁰ But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower. ¹¹ For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich will fade away even while they go about their business.

¹² Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

¹³ When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; ¹⁴ but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. ¹⁵ Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

¹⁶ Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. 

¹⁷ Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. ¹⁸ He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.”

We’ve all heard the phrase “God never gives you more than you can handle.” Well, that isn’t necessarily true. Humans are weak- we all get stressed out really easily, whether it’s school, relationships, family, ourselves, whatever.

Verses 2-3: Right here it seems like it’s God that tests us. And we’re supposed to be happy about that?? In reality, as we’re going to see in a little bit, it’s not God that tempts us. We as humans are inherently “testable” by nature- that is, we are always going to be tempted by the sins of the world, which do not come from God. God is completely pure- He doesn’t know sin. The world, AKA Satan, is who tempts us. Where that phrase (“God will never give you more than you can handle”) deviates from Scripture is where the temptation comes from. Instead of “God never gives you more than you can handle”, the real truth is that God will never put you through anything that He can’t bring you through.

Sometimes we feel like there’s so much pressure on us to be perfect, get amazing grades, be the prettiest/skinniest/smartest, and look like we have it all together. The truth is, we’re never going to be perfect. It’s impossible, but luckily enough we have a relationship with the One who is Perfect, who can and will bring us through each and every trial we go through simply by trusting in Him.

We can grow through what we go through.

Verses 4-8. When we go through things (which is inevitable- life is hard sometimes) it’s easy to get frustrated and give up, or try to fix things ourselves (trust me, I’ve definitely been there. Probably today). But here, James is telling us the ultimate truth that real, genuine wisdom comes only from God. Not from our friends, not from our parents, not from social media. Unless the person giving you advice is Scripture-based, just keep in the back of your mind that God is ultimately the perfect advice-giver, as long as we can learn to be patient and listen to what He’s telling us. Sometimes it’s a feeling in the back of your mind when you’re stressed out, sometimes it can be a song you hear, or I even take simple things that happen throughout the day as a sign that everything is going to be okay. Sometimes, when you don’t think you’ve heard God speak at all, and have no idea what you’re supposed to do, you’ll do whatever you’re stressed about- and then get an overwhelming feeling of relief. That’s God.

Skip to 12-15. No one should say “God is tempting me.” That’s literally in the Bible. God is perfect & does not know sin- we can take comfort in knowing that the Creator of our universe & Savior of us all has nothing to do with the hurt and pain of this world.

Verses 16-18; Romans 8:28 “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them.”

You may not know your specific purpose that God has for you. Here’s a secret: I don’t. I don’t have anything figured out. Right now, when you’re in the waiting, your purpose is to simply trust God & try to have peace in the waiting. Every good and perfect thing is from ABOVE. Every wonderful, pure, peace-bringing thing that you have in your life? God sent that to you. He loves you, and He wants your life to be filled with joy.

Last, I’d just like to encourage you to find joy in all things. But wait, school/my job/my grades/my money/my hair/my image sucks? How am I supposed to have joy in being constantly stressed?

 Psalm 30:4-5 “All you saints! Sing your hearts out to God! Thank Him to His face! He gets angry once in a while, but across a lifetime there is only love. The nights of crying your eyes out give way to days of laughter.”

There is a line in one of my favorite worship songs of all time, Your Love Never Fails by the Newsboys, that comes from that verse. The line says, ‘There may be pain in the night, but joy comes in the morning.”

That phrase gets me through literally every. single. day, and sometimes multiple times a day! It reminds me that whatever I’m struggling with is temporary, and that God’s faithfulness is the everlasting joy that will always come.