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, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; 4 and 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. 6 But ask in faith, never doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind; 7, 8 for 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 [rejoice] boast in being raised up, 10 and the rich [rejoice] in being brought low, because the rich will disappear like a flower in the field. 11 For 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.

There is a great deal going on in this passage, some of which we will skip over. I want to pick up on the joy in vs. 2 and the rejoice in vs. 9 and 10.

When life is challenging, when the way is hard, James says, we should consider such situations nothing but joy. The difficult road produces endurance which grows into maturity. A friend says, “Stormy weather makes skillful sailors.” Hard times grow our resilience, not in ourselves, but in God, a resilience to make it through the challenges and the storms. As we make it through successive storms in life, our trust that God can and will see us through the storm rises. And that in turn gives us hope and joy when we face challenges, God is able to guide us through.

Further, the road of following Jesus’ example, is the road of following his example in facing difficulties and challenges. Following Jesus is challenging, and we like Jesus are invited to look to the joy that is set before us and therefore face the challenges with hope and resilience – with joy. (Hebrews 12:2)

Flipping to vs. 9 and 10 – the King James Version translates the passage that the poor are to rejoice in the hope they have that God will raise them up. They are to be excited in what God will do. The rich, the comfortable, are to rejoice in the fact that God will bring them low, because they will then learn the joy of walking the hard road of following Jesus even in difficult times. In the difficulties, in the struggles of life we discover that God is sufficient for this moment.

In our struggles, we learn the joy of following Jesus, of learning a resilience beyond ourselves that the Holy Spirit gives.

PRAYER:

O Lord, we do rejoice in the challenges and difficulties we face in life, for they have forced us to grow as people, we are better for those challenges. Teach us the joy of poverty. Teach us the joy of holding loosely to financial comfort. And above all teach us the joy of trusting in you alone. In Jesus’ name. Amen.  

Psalm 16

A Miktam of David.

1 Protect me, O God, for in you I take refuge.
2 I say to the Lord, ‘You are my Lord;
    I have no good apart from you.’

3 As for the holy ones in the land, they are the noble,
    in whom is all my delight.

4 Those who choose another god multiply their sorrows;
    their drink-offerings of blood I will not pour out
    or take their names upon my lips.

5 The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot.
6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
    I have a goodly heritage.

7 I bless the Lord who gives me counsel;
    in the night also my heart instructs me.
8 I keep the Lord always before me;
    because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices;
    my body also rests secure.
10 For you do not give me up to Sheol,
    or let your faithful one see the Pit.

11 You show me the path of life.
    In your presence there is fullness of joy;
    in your right hand are pleasures for evermore.

A quick comment on who is speaking when in the psalm. I think that vs. 3 is David putting words into God’s mouth, in other words vs. 3 is from God’s perspective. The rest of the psalm is from David’s perspective.

Vs. 2 and vs. 11 link. In Vs. 2 David asserts that everything good in his life is from God. That is, David did not bring the world into being, or even himself (none of us are self-made), and in each step of his life God has been there to guide and bring to pass the things that have taken place. Vs. 11 takes that one step further, in God’s presence there is fullness of joy. This is not that God’s good action in David’s life is why God is to be rejoiced in – no, the middle of vs. 11 says that the simple act of being in God’s presence is the source of joy, the completeness of joy. Yes, the verse goes on to say God offers gifts, blessings, but the largest of those blessings, the most substantial of those blessings, is the ability to be, the gift of being, in God’s presence each day of our lives. To be with God that is where joy rests.  

Notice, this is not that God is with us, rather it is that we are with God. That in God’s presence there is joy. It is living in an awareness that whatever is happening, whatever challenges seem ready to overwhelm us – God is the place where we find our roots, our solid ground, there is where we stand. For there is where joy is – with God.

PRAYER:

O Lord, we want to live in the joy of being in your presence. Ground us, root us, plant us, that we might be in your presence all of our lives. For you are the source of all that is good in our lives, in you is the fullness of joy. Shape us to live in and by this truth. Amen.