Matthew 13:45-46 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.”
James 1:2-4 “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
John 16:33 “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”
“Thank Me when things do not go your way, because spiritual blessings come wrapped in trials. Adverse circumstances are normal in a fallen world. Expect them each day. Rejoice in the face of hardship, for I have overcome the world.” ~ Jesus Calling, Sarah Young
It seems really crazy to thank God when we are facing things that we feel like we shouldn’t be facing. Try these for example: God thank you for diagnosing me with cancer, God thank you for letting my parents get divorced, God thank you for letting me struggle with inappropriate content. I have heard very few people ever say they are thankful for circumstances like those. Maybe that is not the point that James 1:2-4 is trying to make but then again maybe it is. It doesn’t say consider it joy when you face struggles that aren’t that difficult, it doesn’t say consider it joy when you face struggles that you can deal with. It says “consider it joy…when you encounter various trials.” That is a very difficult concept for me to grasp. I am supposed to consider it joy when things stack up against me; that just does not make sense to me. Unless you don’t read the entire verse, it doesn’t say that the things you are going through are going to be easy, it doesn’t even say that it might not hurt; but it does say that “testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” So my suffering, my trials, my struggles, are supposed to make me “perfect and complete, lacking in nothing”. It is at times like this where the infinite power and all knowingness of God is completely and utterly amazing. The struggles of this world are just that, struggles of this world! Struggles that are temporary, struggles that will go away; don’t confuse that with me saying those struggles aren’t going to hurt because they are going to hurt. They wouldn’t be struggles if they didn’t.
Our God who knows we are going to struggle is perfecting us to be complete, lacking nothing so that we may be the ambassadors of His message to the people that we come into contact with. Those struggles are not going to last forever, those struggles are not going to bury you. “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” I have to think that the exclamation point didn’t exist at the time of this writing because there should have been at least five exclamation points at that end of that sentence. No matter what the world throws at us, and the world is going to throw things at us, no matter how hard things get; our God has overcome them!!!!! Our God has overcome the world!!!!!
So next time that you face a struggle, whether that be in the next 5 minutes, or the next 5 days; try to consider it pure joy that our Heavenly Father who loves us so much is perfecting us. He is chiseling away at the things that do not need to be in our life. He is building us up to ambassadors of His calling. Allow those struggles to reaffirm that our Heavenly Father has called you to be His child. That is absolutely, pure joy! Love God: Love Men.
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