COVID-19 lockdowns. Too much month left at the end of the money. Relationships that just won’t work out the way we think they should. And going to far too many funerals lately. If James is right that going through trials makes us joyful, we should be the happiest people around!

No, we tend to think that the source of joy comes further down in today’s passage, where James mentions a rich man. Most of the time, that’s what we want – to be rich not just in money but in happiness, in friendship, in fulfillment. We think that if we have it all, we’ll be joyful. After all, that just makes sense.

Well it might, until we remember that even the richest of men is subject to the same fate that awaits us all. Smith Coffee Daniell built Windsor here in Claiborne County, but lived in it less than a year before he died. Today, all that is left of it is the soaring columns – in fact, it has been a ruin for a much longer time than the thirty years that his family lived there.

But what is the lasting effect of enduring trials? James assures us that when our faith in Christ is put to the test, when we come to the end of our strength and are forced instead to rely on Him, we become steadfast, perfect and complete (1:3-4).

And that’s because when we stop trusting in ourselves and rely on God instead, we are turning to the One Who can give us every good and perfect gift, the One Who never changes (v. 17), the One Who is determined to bless us, even with the wisdom to help us navigate the sorts of confusing and fearful times in which we live (1:5).

So, sure, we can go on trying to figure everything out on our own. We can allow our selfish desires to lure us into all sorts of sin (1:15). But wouldn’t it be better just to ask God for what we need? Shouldn’t we trust Him to see us through even the worst of the problems that come our way?

James 1:1-18 (ESV)

James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings.
2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,
3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.
6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.
7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;
8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
9 Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation,
10 and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away.
11 For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.
12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.
13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.
14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.
15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.