Before you judge me too harshly, let me explain. I do love God’s word. Like you, I have some favorite scriptures, (about 200 or so), but there are scriptures that challenge me.
The one I’m referring too in the title is found in the Book of James, Chapter 4, verses 2-4.
2-4 “Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.“
I DON’T LIKE WHEN MY FAITH HAS TESTS AND CHALLENGES! Especially when it seems like these tests really do come at me from ALL SIDES! It’s these tests and trials that expose the true colors of our faith.
But this scripture tells us to consider it a gift! WHY? Because they help us mature. This scripture doesn’t say that these tests and challenges are even from God. After all, He can’t and won’t test us with evil. The fallen world we live in is a test all by itself. I don’t like being proven to be deficient in any way. Do you? The process of life’s challenges is necessary in order to achieve the desired result!
So, if I want maturity and to be well developed, I have to change my outlook! I have to change the way I look at tests and challenges, knowing that as I “trust God” in and through them, I’m being equipped for other things.
Let me share a couple of things that can help in moving through these trying times.
There’s always more going on than what we see in the moment. We only see in part. We only know in part. There is a bigger picture. The frustrations and irritations that we feel are based on a part - not the whole. God always has a bigger picture and a bigger plan. God’s plans are good. He said so! Jeremiah 29:11 tells us, “ I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord; they are good and not evil. They are plans that give you hope and a future and an expected end.”
Rest in the fact that his plan provides new appointments that have the power to override the the disappointments of our present and past.
There’s always a promise from God. During these times of, “the trying of our faith”, we can focus on the promises that God’s word has given us for every situation. I’ve yet to meet the Christian that does not need to grow more in certain areas of his or her life. Our trials, combined with faith and patience have the ability to, “Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.”
God’s desire is that we are not deficient in any way - which means that God wants us to grow up into His ways and representation of Him.
I may not like the process while in the process, but I love the idea of being a better representation of Him. In all ways!