James 1:1-11
1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion:
Greetings:
2 My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, 3because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; 4and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.
5 If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you. 6But ask in faith, never doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind; 7, 8for the doubter, being double-minded and unstable in every way, must not expect to receive anything from the Lord.
9 Let the believer who is lowly boast in being raised up, 10and the rich in being brought low, because the rich will disappear like a flower in the field. 11For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the field; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. It is the same with the rich; in the midst of a busy life, they will wither away.
After reading a few author’s ideas, I understand this is a letter James is writing to “the twelve tribes in the Dispersion” – Dispersion referred to Jews living outside of Palestine or as one author puts it, it’s a letter to a Christian audience. But it doesn’t continue on in letter form just kind of words of wisdom.
Looking at verses 2-4, I don’t know that I could easily follow this advice. “face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy” WOW! Now I haven’t faced a lot of trials in my life---I’ve never faced the death of a spouse, of course I’m not married so that’s simple---I’ve never even faced the death of a sibling or parent. I have faced the death of someone I loved, so I’ll look at that. When I was 14 or 15 years old I awoke one Sunday morning to hear the phone ringing, my Dad answered “Hello” [pause] “Yeah how is it?” [pause] I sat straight up in bed and said “Penny’s dead.” Now Penny was my, year younger, cousin. She lived in, well what I called the big city, Dubuque – it was 8 hours away so I only saw her once a year but we had for about 4 years been writing each other letters (yes this is waaaayyy before email). I’d write her and she’d write me right back and vice versa. We weren’t really close just - close and she was having problems at home. Her and her mom (single parent) were fighting and my Mom and Dad had asked if it would be ok if they asked if Penny came to stay with us for awhile---I was okay with that but told them “I don’t think she’ll want to, we live in the middle of nothing.” But it was amazing to hear a phone ring, a hello, and a yeah how is it and I knew Penny was gone, no-one had said anything except the person on the other end and I couldn’t hear them. But sure enough Penny had been struck by a car late the night before (actually early that morning) and killed. We went to the funeral, I still didn’t except it, and my Mom took me into to see Penny in her casket (the mortician had to stand by as people viewed the body, she couldn’t be touched there was too much damage), I watched my Aunt, Grandma and others crying struggling to get throw this. I cannot image using James’ words “face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy” at that time for either me or them. One item I read said, “ no-one asks for cancer, nor do we have a guarantee that trials will come one at a time, but we need to pray at these times and know we don’t face them alone, God is there with us.” Well I can see that, if God hadn’t been there for each of then I don’t think any of us would have made it.
Now verses 5-8 “ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you” I know James’ isn’t telling us ask and you’ll get what you want. God’s want and mine are, well it seems like there never the same. I hear a little kids prayer “God I really want that toy.” Now God isn’t going to say “Yes give him that toy” because God may know he doesn’t “need” it only “wants” it and he has plenty other toys. Or maybe God know he does “need” it because Santa is bringing him a….whatever. But sometimes we are like that child “God I want…..” and maybe we don’t NEED it. And then of course there’s the tried and true saying my Mom says “Maybe God did answer your prayer and it was “no” or maybe “no, but here is something else.’” I sometimes hate mothers and their sayings, just kidding moms/dads always, okay usually, now what-is-what.
Verses 9-11 seem to be so true. “It is the same with the rich; in the midst of a busy life, they will wither away.” If a rich man is only rich and has no faith what does he have, you know it’s that saying of “Have you ever seen a hearse pulling a U-Haul trailer.” or “You cannot take it with you when you’re gone.” But of course we humans have a tough time seeing that, I do at least, I’m constantly saying “why can’t I afford that” or “they have more money, why”. My Mom always says, yes she has many sayings I know they’ve been passed down for years, “they are just deeper in debt [or have more credit cards] then you.” And then the tried and true Erma Bombeck comes back and says “The Grass is Always Greener Over The Septic Tank”.
Okay what are your thoughts?
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