August 26 – James 1:4
James 1:4 Amp
But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be [people] perfectly and fully developed (with no defects), lacking in nothing.
I love this verse! Don’t try to sidestep or cut short what God is doing in you. Let patience do its perfect work. Endure. Learn. Ask God what He wants to teach you in what you’re going through. Be moldable clay. Trust. See? He’s trying to make you “perfectly and fully developed!”
Why are these verses so hard for me? I should look at it as a good thing if I go through hard things. God wants me to be perfectly and fully developed. Yet I rebel against the thought that all hard things are caused by God, or that people who suffer are in need of being perfected. God can turn everything around for good, and he can use these things to perfect us. But I still want to pray for relief of suffering. Is this right, or just a lack of trust? This is a big deal for me!
Good thoughts, and definitely worth discussing, beyond the scope of this blog. There are questions that just don’t have good answers yet. I myself can’t “land” on whether God causes or allows hard things. Sometimes I know He causes them, because I read it in the Bible. I just don’t know if it’s always something He did or He allowed. And I think we CAN pray for relief. But there’s a difference between praying for relief and actually taking yourself out of the situation. Part of the growth I think results from the struggle.
Good answer, Mom. Such thought-provoking verses, and I always like reading your reflections on them.