“How are you doing?” ‘Okay under the circumstances.’ “Under the circumstances, what are you doing under the circumstances, a Christian is supposed to live above the circumstances, not under them!” Okay so it’s cheesy, but it's true, we are supposed to rise above our circumstances. In writing these blogs, I ask the Lord to give me things that are relevant to my life, knowing that our struggles are common to man, so it is likely relevant to others (1 Corinthians 10:13). I regard it as no coincidence therefore, that He had put on my heart to write on James 1:2ff, a mere couple of days before I received news that the cancer had returned in a loved one. And what I feel He is showing me (as seen in the posts), is that it’s not about pretending and it okay to grieve, that I need to lay my “Isaacs” down, and that half measures profit me nothing. In particular it’s not about just getting through, rather with His help, it’s about, rising above it all, allowing the circumstances to draw me closer to Him, and counting it all joy.
The sense of the Greek word translated “perseverance” in the title, is about the ability to stand up under trail. So that in particular, the testing or our faith is to produce that very ability. And we are intended to know this abut the trials, in our innermost being (verse 2). In the same way that steel is tempered by heat, so we too are to be tempered by the heat of our trials. The testing of our faith then, is to show to Him, to ourselves, and to the World, what sort it is, and to see what is in our hearts. It is to know whether we will keep His commandments (Deuteronomy 8:2). Are we God’s fair weather friends? In the midst of trials shall we follow Job’s wife’s advice to curse God and die (Job 2:9)?
For me to hear again the seemingly impossible command to rejoice in the midst of my trials, is to remind me that “With men it is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26). When I am struggling, I need to come back to the perspective of heaven where, not only is it possible to rejoice, but also to claim victory, in my case over the cancer. We beat it before, we will beat it again. But if not, we will not cease to trust in God who raises the dead, who did deliver us, does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will deliver us (2 Corinthians 1:9,10). And as I write, the Lord is fortifying me with many other verse. My way is not hidden from Him, and with Job I affirm this morning that He does indeed know my situation, and that when He has tried me, I will, with His sustaining help, come forth like gold (Job 23:10).
Father, in the words of a chorus “I need You more, more than yesterday.” I do Lord! I know You know the way I take. You know my path, You also know Lord that I am too weak to be away from You at times likes this. But with Paul I cry out that when I am weak, then I am strong because I then stand in Your strength, which is made perfect in my weakness. Glorify Yourself through this things Father, in Jesus Name Amen
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