Why Does the Epistle of James Open Up With Trials?

     On Friday night my husband and I with a friend were reading the Bible with two college students. One of them had just gotten saved this summer, and was asking questions, which by the way is one of the best ways to study the Bible. 

    I could tell towards the end he was feeling a bit outnumbered because he had most of the questions, and the rest of us were doing the answering.  So I turned to him and
 told him I've been reading the Bible for many years, and I'm still learning. When I'm reading, I'm still asking God what is this saying? For years that's how I felt about the Epistle of James. 

     I have to say I was having that feeling again when I knew that the next Life-Study in my sequence would be James. I don't have the printed copy of this particular Life-Study, so I went online to Living Stream Ministry's website to read it.  In the first chapter Witness Lee shares that the book of James is about practical Christian perfection.  And the first thing James brings out is our need to endure trials by faith.

Count it all joy, my brothers, whenever you fall into various trials, knowing that the proving of your faith works out endurance. And let endurance have its perfect work that you may be perfect and entire lacking in nothing.   James 1:2-4

   God spoke to my heart in this chapter on why God gives us trials: 

"Perhaps after you believed in the Lord Jesus, you thought that in the Christian life there would be no sufferings or trials....Surely God loves me and He will not allow anything bad to happen to me. This is the concept of many believers. But eventually trials come.... A final exam serves the three-fold purpose of trying, testing, and proving a student. Likewise, the various trials through which we must pass as believers serve this purpose of trying, testing, and proving us. These trials are surely a help in our practical Christian perfection, for God uses them to perfect us.....Trials...help us with our character and our behavior in our daily living" (Lee, Witness. "Introduction and Practical Virtues of Christian Perfection" Life-Study of James.  Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry.  http://www.ministrybooks.org/books.cfm?cid=0D >).

    So many times I've thought why is God allowing this to happen?  Not always do I see right away that God has the loving purpose of perfecting me through the various trials that He has ordained just for me. 

I I like to listen as much as I can to the Life-Study of the Bible with Witness Lee that goes along with the Life-Study that I am reading.  Both the excerpts from the spoken messages and the commentary are enlightening. 

Other Posts on the Life-Study of James: 
Why Does the Epistle of James Open Up With Trials?
What's the Way to Resist Temptation in James 1:21?
How Spiritual Growth is Connected to the Lord's Coming in James 5:7-8
What James 5:17-18  Teaches us About Elijah's Prayer