Trials, Temptation and Testing...its all good!

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you face trials of many kinds" - James 1:2

Its strange to think you should get excited about trials in your life. When hard things happen our first response is not usually, "Oh sweet! I am so excited!" Or when life hands us lemons what do we do? Joyfully make lemonade, atleast until juice squirts in our eye and then it starts to burn and we throw the lemons at who ever handed them to us in the first place.

So what is James saying here? What is the goal when trials come? And come they will, the Bible and every sinner around you (even the nice ones) guarantee that. When trials or temptation or testing comes we should consider it a joy to endure them. Well, what if it is the enemy tempting us to sin? Or what if we are the victim of someone else's poor decisions or what if even God himself is testing us? Does it matter? Does our reaction change? It shouldn't.

When the Lord is our goal we can have joy in trials. It does not matter if we are being tempted or tested. The end result and our focus should be growing in Christ. As a result of enduring trials we don't get a t-shirt or a trophy, what we get is much more valuable. We learn patience and by learning patience we can begin to endure and stand up under the pressure of more weight. Why? For the sake of struggling through the rest of our lives just because we can handle it? No! When we are tested in our faith it sharpens our character and when we stand up under the pressure of testing and trial we grow deeper and deeper in our knowledge of the Lord and in our relationship with Him.

When patience plays out in our lives and we learn to bear the burdens of life because we know that our struggles are not in vain we begin to mature in our relationship with Christ. James 1:4 says that we will be lacking in nothing. If you feel like you are lacking in your relationship with the Lord guess what. Good News! You will have the opportunity to struggle without shame, to consider it pure joy, to grow in your relationship because none of us are there yet nor will we be this side of heaven.

We can either look at that reality with an attitude of self-pity for what we may have to face throughout our lives or we can genuinely be excited about the fact that the Lord is not done with you yet. He has begun a work in you that he promises to complete and every situation, circumstance, joy, sorrow and trial is all part of his sovereign grace that molds us and shapes us into His likeness.

Carry My Cross Third Day/Passion of the Christ

Hosea Recap

As we look back at the book of Hosea one thing seems to stick out above the rest. God's unfailing, unconditional love for His people.

We see in the opening of the book that God gives a command to the prophet Hosea to go and marry a wife of harlotry. The next thing we see is Hosea and Gomer married and conceiving a child, Jezreel. What we did not see was an argument, a plea, a whine or even a question from Hosea as to why the Lord would ask him to do such a thing. All we see is a command, and obedience.

Only a few short verses later we see that Gomer was indeed a woman of adultery and conceived 2 children out of adulterous affairs. Lo-Ruhamah and Lo-Ammi.

A parrallel picture running through the book of Hosea is not only the prophet's relationship with his wife but the Lord's relationship with Israel as well. Isreal was God's chosen people, long before this book was written. The Lord knew their hearts, he knew they would worship idols, they would abandon Him as Lord and they would worship those things that satisfied their fleshly desires. Even knowing all of this God still chose this nation as His people.

Chapter 3 of the book of Hosea paints a beautiful picture of redemption. The Lord speaks to Hosea again and tells him to go get his wife. Not only did He tell Hosea to get her, but he told him to love her even though she was being "loved" by another. So, again Hosea obeyed. No record of complaint or question, just obedience. But here is where it gets interesting. Hosea did not simply go to where Gomer was and pick her up and ride off happily ever after. Hosea had to purchase his own wife back!

Lets put this in context, Hosea was told to marry an adulterous woman, he did it and she committed adultery. Hosea was told to go get his wife after she left him, committed adultery, had other children and again, he did it. Not only did he do it, he went above and beyond and paid a price to get his own wife back! Hosea literally had to pay for something that was already his! Would you or I do that? Gomer was not necessarily someone that we would see as being valuable enough to pay a ransom for. She was unfaithful, she committed adultery, she turned her back on her husband and pursued a life of immoral living! She didn't deserve to be purchased back.

Neither did we...."For God so loved the world, that He gaveHis only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."

The Lord chose to rescue us back at the beginning when Adam and Eve sinned he immediately had a plan of redemption that was set in motion. Over the course of the next few thousand years His people were unfaithful, they worshipped idols and turned their back on Him. What was his response? He told his Son, go get them. But it will not be cheap, they must be bought back and the price will be death.

Jesus' death on the cross paid a ransom we did not deserve for sins that He did not commit.

In Hosea it never tells us what Gomer's response was when Hosea purchased her back. It does not say if they lived happily ever after. For us, however, the ending can be different. Your debt has been paid. Your guilt has been placed on the cross. How will you respond to the unconditional redeeming love of your Savior, Jesus Christ?