Trials

Trials are not evidence that God has abandoned his people; Scripture presents them as the testing ground where genuine faith is proved and matured. The response Scripture calls for is strikingly counterintuitive.

Why does James say to consider trials pure joy?

James opens his letter with exactly this command: “Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:2-4). Joy is possible not because the trial itself is pleasant, but because of what it produces when faith holds firm under it.

What should I do when I feel unequal to a trial?

James follows immediately with an instruction for those who feel unequal to the trial: “if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith without any doubting” (James 1:5-6). Trials expose whether faith is genuine, and the proper response is to ask God for the wisdom to endure them rather than to doubt his goodness in sending them. The articles below trace this theme through several key passages.