To Encourage You

James 1:2-4 “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.”

Perhaps one of the most comforting and encouraging Scriptures in all the Bible is Philippians 4:19: “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”  So often our thoughts immediately turn to things like money, food, clothing, and other physical needs when we read this verse.  And surely those are among the things we should think about. Jesus reinforced this truth in the Sermon on the Mount when He said, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin,yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:25-33).  However, what we may miss in such teachings is that the emphasis is not being placed on physical needs. Rather, it is the inner strength to endure any circumstance in life we might face, no matter how great the need might be. 

That God will provide for our physical needs is a given. It’s His promise.  If He cares even about the needs of the birds and the lilies, He certainly cares about our physical needs as well.  But notice that Jesus says that our focus is not to be on physical needs. It isn’t the physical that should be our priority. Rather, He says that we should first and foremost seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness.  It is when this is the priority in our life that everything else will take care of itself. 

So, back to Paul’s teaching that God will supply all our needs.  Interestingly, earlier in His letter to the Philippian church he tells them that it isn’t the physical needs that are his priority.  Notice what he says in Philippians 4:10-13 as he thanks the church for reaching out to him with their gifts of support: “I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” 

Do you hear that?  Paul is saying that he has learned to face every circumstance of life by trusting in the Lord so much that he is perfectly content, come what may. And why was he like this? Because God had strengthened his faith by way of suffering. He had learned the lessons that James is talking about in the passage above. 

You see James is telling us that God works in our lives through trials so that we will be “perfect and complete, lacking nothing,” no matter if we are in physical need or not.  He is telling us that one of the primary ways that God works to meet our needs is to strengthen us and mature our faith through trials so that we see things with very different eyes.  Every trial in a Christian’s life is like this. Every one! That includes what you or I might be going through at this very moment.  God wants us to be able to be filled with His joy, and that joy, like Him, is supernatural. It is not dependent on our circumstances.  It is a joy that is present in spite of them.

So, do you want this joy? Do you want this mature, ever-trusting faith? Then believe what God has told us in His Word about our trials, for it’s in those trials that He is producing the wonderful fruit of His Spirit, fruit such as everlasting joy, in our life. It’s a joy that is not dependent on our circumstances. It’s a joy that God has for us if we will but trust Him as He teaches us by way of the trials that He sovereignly allows to touch our life.