Book of James - 2 - 1:2-12 How to deal with Trials

James 1:2-12 covers trials. First, verses 2 to 4 tell us to rejoice because trials produce a whole and complete Christian. Secondly, verses 5-8 tells us to ask in a way that is “whole”, in order to receive wisdom from God, and finally in verses 9-12 we are to treasure Christ more than anything.

1. 2-4 rejoice in Trials because they produce whole and complete Christians

Granted, this is so counter-intuitive. But we know this is true, from our own lives. We learn more through mistakes than victory. A guitarist builds goes through pain before developing tough calluses on the ends of his fingers. When you go to the gym and you want to build muscle. After a workout, your muscles tear and build up stronger. If you want to get good at anything, you need to be willing to put in hours of hard work. I remember partaking in a double, badminton tournament. We were going to play each team in the competition three times. In the first round, we won every game. We thought we would win the tournament easily. In the second round, we won every game except one. Then we realized that the pair who beat us was also our narrowest victory in the first round. This defeat led me and my double partner to work hard, to improve. In the third we absolutely crushed them, and won the competition. Without that trial of defeat we probably would not have worked so hard, and improve like we did.

James is saying that Christian maturity is like a guitarist’s calluses, a body builders muscles and like victory in badminton: trials get you there. If we know this, and if we treasure Christian maturity, the natural response to trials is to rejoice!

2. 5-8 Ask in a manner which is whole and complete

These verses are controversial. Verse 6 seems to mean that Christians are not allowed to doubt, ever, and therefore we all feel unqualified from being allowed to ask God for wisdom, since verse 7 seems to apply that we should not expect to receive anything from God.

Verse 5 is about the giver, God. He is characterized as a generous giver, who gives without reproach, in a whole manner, he gives wholly, and completely to the one who asks. Verses 6-8 follow logically that the one who asks would ask in a manner worthy of the generous giver. Two images are given to communicate unworthy requests – the first is a wave, or the surface of water, which keeps changing as it is undulating. The second image is one who is double minded, in contrast with the giver who is single minded in his giving.

James does not condemn doubting what God’s will is. But when we ask God we need to have the proper view of who is his as a generous giver, and also not seek our own way, when we see that what we are asking for is obviously not his will.

Wrong ways we might ask God for things include: asking hypocritically, making promises we never intended on keeping, asking with the wrong motives, having a backup plan if God does not provide us with what we want.

I have a friend in high school, who asked a girl on a date, but he had a back plan. So first girl was at her locker, and he asked her if she would go out with him, and for some reason, that I am still confused about he also told her that if she did not want to, he was wondering if she thought her best friend would be interested in going on a date with him!??! She was like “no” I will not go out with you, and then she told her friend what my friend said, and they were both mad at him. The moral of the story there is that, if you want to ask God, you don’t need to have a backup plan, he is generous, he has already provided everything you need for eternity, and he is the author of every good thing.

3. 9-12 We are to treasure Christ above everything else

When we become believers, those who are poor, who are well aware that they do not have anything of value, are exalted when they become believers they get the title of “son of God”. On the other hand, for someone with a status to become a Christian they must acknowledge that to become a Christian they need to see everything they own as not having any worth, so they need to humble themselves.

Becoming a believer and even the trials that come along that help us mature are to be valued more than anything in this world. James uses an illustration to compare a rich man to a flower in a field. This flower is beautiful, but one day disappear, and this is also the case for everything around us that is not eternal: money, a career, hobbies that take all our time. Things that are eternal are God and people, they are what we are to invest in. Luke 12:13-21 illustrates this point well.

Verse 12 ends with a promise for all who remain steadfast under trial. They will be blessed – persevering through trial is proof that we are God’s children, than he is worth more to us than anything else in this world. Those who go astray during trials, show that they are not believers.