James packs so much wisdom and truth into just the first four verses of his letter that it’s easy to overlook the answer to joy, perfection, completeness and everything that God has for us.

Let’s take a few moments to really explicate these three verses of Scripture.

James 1:2 is a familiar scripture that is quoted by many, but truly understood by few. I wasn’t able to understand how someone is to find joy in the midst of trials and bad circumstances until I understood how God uses trials and circumstances that make us uncomfortable, often VERY uncomfortable, with life and where we are to motivate us.

When Israel left their life of bondage in Egypt, God led them across the Red Sea, stopped those who pursued them, led them across the wilderness to the Promised Land. The same God that did all of that told them that they would possess the Promised Land presently occupied by giants, armies, and fortified cities. But even though God had shown His faithfulness and power through miracles and providing for them time and time again, fear stopped the Israelites from following God into the Promised Land. Moses told the Israelites, “Do not be in dread or afraid of them. The Lord your God who goes before you will himself fight for you, just as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness, where you have seen how the Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way that you went until you came to this place.” They knew of God and had even witnessed His power over their enemies numerous times, yet they still allowed their own fear and unbelief to supersede their faith in God. They were not ready mentally or spiritually to walk into the promises God had for them.

Is this starting to sound familiar??

God swore in His wrath that they would not enter his rest in the Promised Land, and it took 40 years of wandering around in the wilderness for the old to literally pass away and the new to come into adulthood. God provided for the Israelites while they were being transformed from doubters into believers, but he provided just enough to sustain them. They ate the same food everyday for breakfast, lunch, dinner and any snacks in between for 40 years. That’s 14,600 days or 43,800 meals. I’m pretty sure that they were so sick of manna, they ate it out of necessity. Munchies and late light snacks probably didn’t exist. Bleh.

They also ran out of water more than once, yet God still provided enough to keep them going around in circles for the duration of their transformation.

What does this have to do with building our faith? God provided for the Israelites in the wilderness, but just enough to sustain them. He didn’t provide so much that they would be comfortable and content with life in the wilderness. He kept them alive, but allowed the trials and their want to continually irritate them and serve as motivation to get out of the wilderness and into the Promised Land.

Did you bring me this far only to abandon me and allow me to be destroyed??

Don’t miss this! God is operating in our lives just like He did with the Israelites. We may find ourselves wandering around in the wilderness, angry and discouraged, griping about our situations, lacks, needs, wants, and everything else that we are dissatisfied with, and telling God, “I see that you are providing for my needs, but come on!!! You, the God who owns everything, are giving me just enough to get by, and barely enough at that! What gives?!?! Did you bring me this far only to abandon me and allow me to be destroyed??” I put that in quotes because I’m sure I’ve said that more than once.

I thank God here and now for His grace, mercy and patience with me!

God doesn’t want us to stay in the wilderness. IT’S A WILDERNESS, PEOPLE!!! No one is meant to live in the wilderness, especially when God has ALREADY prepared the Promised Land for us! If God were to satisfy all of our desires in the wilderness, we’d overlook the fact that we’re STILL IN THE WILDERNESS, surrounded by sand dunes, snakes, and death all around us, while just over the hillside lies the land of rest and plenty. Why move out of the wilderness when it’s so comfortable to just stay in it?

James 1:2-3 says to, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.” I now see that the trials I go through are motivation for me to exercise my faith by putting it into action and follow God out of this wilderness.

So trials produce motivation, motivation produces exercise, and the exercising of my faith produces steadfastness. Webster’s 1828 Dictionary defines steadfastness as a fixedness in place or a firmness of mind or purpose. These trials exercise my faith in God so that it is solid in my mind and my purpose.

Now let’s apply that rock solid faith in God to verse 4. “And let steadfastness [your rock solid faith in God, His ability, and His Will for your life] have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (Chad’s Amplified Version)

Knowing this, we should all get excited when we face trials in the wilderness, because we realize that the trials are preparing us mentally and spiritually to walk into the Promises of God.

Finally, in Hebrews 3:7-19 we are again reminded of the story of the Israelites in the wilderness and warned not once, but twice, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness…” Instead of hardening our hearts, we must listen to the Holy Spirit and rejoice in the trials being careful that we do not develop an evil, unbelieving heart that will lead us away from the living God. Unbelief is the opposite of faith, and to those who do not have a firm, unmovable faith in God, he says, “They shall not enter my rest.”

Have faith in God, living your life through the trials knowing that he is leading you to the Promised Land. And if you’re going through a trial right now, thank God for this opportunity to walk with Him and grow your faith!

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[Original image by Andrew Shiva used under the Creative Commons License. Some scripture quotations are from the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.]