Scripture: James 1:2-4
"My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into
diverse temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh
patience, but let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and
entire, wanting nothing."
Are you wasting your troubles? Any time God allows trials
to enter your life, He has a purpose for them. He wants you to squeeze out
every ounce of spiritual growth instead of letting difficulties force you into
despair and discouragement. If you’ll just respond in the right manner, the
trial that looks as if it could destroy you becomes an instrument of blessing.
The most natural response to adversity is to groan and
plead with the Lord to remove it. If that doesn’t work, we might get angry or
try to find our own way out of the difficulty or pain. Sometimes we resort to
blaming others for the trouble. And in truth, someone else might have caused
the problem, but ultimately God allowed it.
No matter where affliction originates, who is involved,
or how evil their intentions, by the time it reaches you, it’s been dipped in
the Father’s love and shaped to accomplish His good purpose. The question is,
will you cooperate with Him, or will you resist?
Perhaps the key word is found in verse 4 of today’s
reading. God wants to use our trial to develop spiritual maturity, but unless
you let it do its work, that opportunity will be lost. If we could foresee
every benefit the Lord designed our trials to accomplish, maybe we’d be more
cooperative.
Although we can’t see all the specifics of God’s plan, we
know that His goal is to use our adversity to supply something we lack so we
can be mature and complete. Even though the experience is painful, rest in the
Father’s comforting arms, and let Him do His perfect work in you.