DAILY DEVOTIONAL – February 17, 2020
“Shake it Off”
Prayer: Faithful God and Father, You are with us always and care so deeply for us. In times of affliction Lord, strengthen us in Your Spirit to remember that we are not alone. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Scripture: James 1:2-4
“ 2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
Devotional – “Shake it Off”
James gives us some pretty difficult words to listen to in our text for today. James tells us to do something that goes against every natural feeling and instinct we have when it seems the sky is falling and we are in the mist of adversity and trial. At least for me, when everything seems to be falling apart, my initial reaction is to come to God and ask “why?” When I have given something my very best effort, when I am convinced something was right or “supposed to be”, and especially when the things in life that seemed so stable and that had been working perfectly all of sudden crumble apart, that is when I cry out to God and ask, “Why is this happening? What is the reason and purpose for all of this?!” Yet, in our text for today, James tells us to count it all as joy when our life is met with trials of various kinds. To rejoice when our faith is tested.
There is a legend I once read that really helped me to begin to understand how James could say such a seemingly contradictory thing.
There was a farmer who had a very old and faithful donkey. One day the farmer’s donkey fell down into a well. Clearly injured, the animal cried pitifully for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, though it pained him, the farmer decided that there was nothing that could be done. The well needed to be covered up and the donkey probably wouldn’t survive the stress of being extracted. He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They each grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone’s amazement, he quieted down. A few shovel loads later, the farmer looked down the well, and was astonished at what he saw. As every shovel of dirt hit his back, the donkey did something amazing. He would shake it off, let it fall to the ground and the donkey would then step up onto the pile. As the farmer’s neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take another step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed, as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and trotted off.
Why does God allow times of adversity and testing in our lives? It’s not to test us to see if we are faithful “enough”. All of us would fail that test. Like the dirt thrown on top of the donkey, God allows adversity in our life in order to lift us up higher. Sin has brought brokenness and pain into this world. God in His wisdom, mercy and love displays His power and salvation by using hardship to lift us up. Of course, before you and I ever experienced a single day in this life, God lifted up His Son on the cross of pain and suffering, and it is through faith in Jesus’ self-less sacrifice that we have been risen from the grave and given eternal life.
Through affliction, and through mercifully seeing us through those times of trial and pain, God gives us a foretaste of the eternal victory we will come to inherit in death. Over and over again in Scripture this is the Good News that is given to us.
1 Corinthians 10:13, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”
2 Corinthians 12: 9-10, “I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Job 36:15, “He delivers the afflicted by their affliction and opens their ear by adversity.”
I very much like what the Lutheran Study Bible has to say about this passage from Job, “The Lord uses affliction no just for our discipline but also for our deliverance. Allow affliction to open your ears to learn the Lord’s purposes, and to open your mouth in praise. Praise Christ most highly, who delivers you from evil by His agony and bloody sweat.”
Thanks for spending time in devotion with me today, and remember, that God has forgiven yesterday, is with you today and has already taken care of tomorrow. Amen.
