Last 2 to 3 weeks I've really been stuck on James 1:2-4. It
is a scripture that I memorized many years ago. I memorized it but I'm
just not so sure that I really knew what it meant. I heard Graham Cooke say
this "I
will be glad when this is over, which means you can't be glad right now."
and it really put the scripture in the perspective for me.
I can't tell you how many times I have used that phrase ”I’ll be so glad when this is over.”
I think to myself many times, don’t speak negative over yourself,
don’t speak death over yourself. When I would
say this phrase I never looked at it that way.
It is true, I’m telling myself I can't be glad right now until whatever
I'm going through is over. Makes it kind of hard to count it all joy when I'm
speaking bad things over myself.
Once again it takes me back to what I said before. Jesus
is in every circumstance and God's promise is bigger than the circumstance and
his provision is bigger than the problem. It's about a different way of
thinking. That thought, I’ll be glad
when this is over comes from the world it's not from God. So once again I need
to change my thinking to “I am so excited I'm going through this trial I can't
wait to see what's on the other side. What's at the end of this trial, what is
God doing? So much better than sitting on my pity pot thinking oh my gosh I'll
be glad when this is over I can't stand this crap. Who wants to be here I
don't? It's that kind of thinking that hangs a chain around your neck and binds
you up.
Then you're stuck in this trial and you're not even trying
to get out of it you just want to complain. God is so much bigger than your
circumstance. Look to him and rest. He is in the waiting
James 1:2. Count it all joy,
my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing
of your faith develops perseverance, and perseverance much run its course so
that you may be complete lacking in nothing.
