James 1: Count It All Joy!
Donkeys that talk are out of the ordinary and we giggle at Balaam’s response but oftentimes we act just like him when God is trying to get our attention. We are a stubborn people when we are in a trial just like Balaam. But, James, God’s servant, is not talking about these “in your face” trials but rather the everyday ordinary ones such as a computer that is fried, as I am facing, or a simple water leak as in our bathroom.
As Creator, God has given us a myriad of word pictures so we understand His plan and the way He works in our lives. Sometimes He uses donkeys that talk, bears that scare or sometimes it is the innocent and beautiful wildflowers like the Texas Bluebonnet that grow in the meadow in spring. They cover the farmland, the roadsides, and the yards so that we will stop and ponder their beauty. But, just as we are enjoying them, the heat comes and they wither and pass off not to be seen again until the following spring. That is like the trials we face. Know this whatever He has chosen you can know that it has a purpose to get our attention.
As God’s servant, James wants us to learn how to face and handle trials that we face. Trials teach us about our mindset and how we respond to them just as the bluebonnets. Just as a bluebonnet faces the test of heat, God tests our faith. Peter reminds us that we should not be surprised when life seems to be beautiful and then SMACK! summer heat arrives in the form of a trial. God uses each trial to reveal how we look to Him, how we are responding or how we are going to weather it. We want it to just go away but God is saying I am teaching you about character building and this is my way of doing that. We say, I just don’t understand it. God is saying then why don’t you ask me for wisdom to understand it? But, like Balaam and the donkey story, in the heat of the trial, we reveal that we are a stubborn people who think we can find our own solutions and our own answers. Like the wildflower that sprouts in spring with its beauty, at first we face it head on but when the heat comes we fade. We look in God’s mirror and walk away because we don’t like the image we see. However, if we do choose to look and then respond in humility God’s grace is sufficient and the beauty of the bluebonnet is a reminder that we passed with flying colors. But, sometimes we see and then walk away and don’t respond correctly. It is then that we may have to do, as the Israelites, another lap around the wilderness until we learn how to respond properly.
You can be a Balaam, an Israelite or a Bluebonnet that bursts forth with beauty in spring. It is up to you.
