Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. —James 1:17
I memorized this verse as a young girl when I sang it as part of a baby dedication. Our church was rejoicing with an infertile couple who had finally been able to adopt a baby. To my mind the song spoke of evidence that good gifts, though mediated by people, are from God. But within months of that special church service, the baby was reclaimed by his birth mother and our friends, the married couple, were empty handed and grief stricken. Was their baby not given to them by God? Was he not a good and perfect gift? Or was it possible that God is not good?
These questions flooded my heart. Such are the doubts James is writing to forestall.
James opens his letter with a greeting “to the twelve tribes in the Dispersion.” Having fled their homes under persecution, these Jewish Christians were impoverished exiles. He begins with a challenge: “count it all joy…when you meet trials of various kinds.” (v. 2) He’s urging an unnatural, but not impossible, response to their hard circumstances. He points them to the purpose of the trials they’re enduring: the “testing of your faith” (v. 3). This testing produces steadfastness, James says. And when steadfastness has its full effect (on the last day, at Christ’s return), they will be “perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (v. 4).
God doesn’t promise physical comfort and restoration in this life on the far side of trials and testing (Job’s story notwithstanding). We know this in part because James follows the admonition to count suffering as all joy with the instruction to ask God not for relief or restitution, but wisdom (v. 5). What is promised to Christians in the midst of suffering is steadfastness.
Testing and trials, James says, produce steadfastness. And the man who remains steadfast under trial is blessed (v. 12). This isn’t the blessing promised by prosperity preachers or opulent Instagram posts boasting “Blessed!”. This is the blessing of being able to continue trusting that God is good when sickness, disease, job loss, natural disasters, marital troubles, abuse–and yes, a broken adoption–strikes. When the Spirit helps Christians to remain steadfast–to keep hoping in Christ and believing that God is good–that is His blessing.
God does not tempt us through trials to doubt Him. Temptations to doubt arise from our flesh and the devil. But when we resist the temptation to give in to fleshly cravings for comfort and relief, when we resist the enemy’s whispers that God is against us, and stand fast against the world’s lies that if God were good life would be easy–when we are steadfast–that is a gift from God!
God never changes. He is good, always has been good, and always will be good. His word is trustworthy (Numbers 23:19). Our circumstances come to us from God’s sovereign, loving hand (1 John 4:16, Matthew 7:7-11). Though they are often fraught with suffering, His goodness remains. He has promised to work all things, including heart-numbing loss, together for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28). This sounds upside down to worldly ears. But to the heart that is held fast by Christ, it makes good and perfect sense. Just like the gifts that come down from the Father of lights.
For Reflection
When are you most tempted to doubt God’s goodness?
As you meditate on James 1, ask God to increase your faith and make you steadfast.
Look to Him for the ability to persevere through suffering with joy and confidence in His faithfulness to see you through it.
Candice Watters is a wife, homeschooling mom, and editor of the Fighter Verses blog. She and her husband Steve are the parents of four young adults, and co-authors of Start Your Family: Inspiration for Having Babies. They live in Louisville, KY.