Bible Studies

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I am in a men’s prison ministry that meets every Monday evening. Earlier in the year we studied the Book of James. This is a fantastic book that is definitely worthy of extended study. We discussed James 1:2-3, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance” for a long time.

In the calm, contemplative moments of a Bible Study, it is easy to think that we can easily handle major problems. However, when it is happening, when we are in the middle of the “tunnel”, it is very hard to consider it pure joy. Once we are through it, once we come out the other side, then maybe we can begin to think about what we have learned and why we have learned it. The hard part is having patience and faith in the middle of our trials. I think that this is important for all Christians. The fact is, we will have trials. James even says “whenever you face trials”, since it is a given that we will.

How can we react?
1) We can become defiant and rebellious. (If God thinks I need to ask Him for help, He'd better think again.)
2) We can cave under the pressure. (I can't take it, I give up.)
3) We can wallow in self-pity. (Why is God letting this happen to me? Nobody has ever had to deal with something this bad.)
4) We can try to deal with it through prayer and patience.

James’ suggestion is to not rebel, or faint, but rejoice. He believes problems are our friends, not our enemies. Our problems help develop our Christian character. I agree, but that does not necessarily make my trials any easier. I try to view having problems as I would training for a marathon. If I sat on my sofa most of the time, a ten minute run would be impossible. However, with training, an hour long run is easy. The same goes with our trials. Walking the walk of Jesus is not easy. We need to train. Trials are never pleasant. If they were, then they would not be trials. However, we will hopefully learn something after it is over.

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