James 1:2-4: “My brothers and sisters, think of the various tests you encounter as occasions for joy. After all, you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. Let this endurance complete its work so that you may be fully mature, complete, and lacking in nothing.”
The book of James starts off with this encouragement to stand firm during the tests of life. Probably like many of you, I don’t like the idea of being tested. Just the thought of tests brings me back to my university days when I would count down to the next big midterm or final exam, fearing what questions might come up and if I was truly prepared.
Just like tests in school, testing in life can bring us a lot of fear and anxiety. It might be a time when we ask tough questions of ourselves and of God. Tests have a nasty way of poking at our weaknesses and soft spots, and that’s never an easy thing.
For some of us, the last few months have been especially difficult in terms of testing and trials. Whether it’s job loss, facing our prejudices, sicknesses in our families, isolation, or other things, there are many ways we’re being challenged daily.
When we face those kinds of tests, it’s natural to have questions and doubts about ourselves and God. And I truly believe that God welcomes those. God wants us to ask him questions, to voice our doubts, to express our fears and sadness, and to be real with Him. When we do that we learn to rely on God to hear us. When we’re tested and we take our questions to God, we actually build faith and endurance because we’re relying on God for answers, and to keep us afloat.
In some crazy way, these tests can even become “occasions for joy” because of the way we’re being built up by them. So bring every doubt and question to God, and ask him those tough questions. Like the verse says, “throw all your anxiety onto him, because he cares about you” (1 Peter 5:7). When we learn to relate to God in our doubt and anxiety, we can actually become stronger in our faith as we learn to trust our good, good Father.