"You Think I'm Ready?" (James 1:2-3)

“You think I’m ready?’’

“Oh yes!” My karate sensei smiled. “Take the belt test.”

It had only been a few months since I last successfully tested. The prior belt test was nearly 10 months in the making so I was a bit surprised by my sensei’s statement.

“Ok, if you think I’m ready. You know best.”

There was a written rule in our karate class. No student may request to take a belt test for advancement. That decision was only made by the sensei, the head teacher. No matter the time interval since the last test or one’s perceived expertise or impatience with the process, the sensei had the only and final decision.

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.

James 1:2-3 (NKJV)

I do not welcome trials. But my perspective, like so many things in my life, has been distorted by sin. The Bible instructs us that we should have a joyful heart and peace when we fall into trials. This is how God works in our lives. This is how God matures us. Instead of pleading, “Why now, God?” my attitude and cry should be, “You think I’m ready, God?”

If God places me in trials, I should be thankful that He thinks I am ready to grow, to move me out of my complacency. The pain that I feel is much more than this, it is the insight that God give me to experience the brokenness and separation that His Son, Jesus Christ, endured on the Cross for me. And if He is placing me in the trials, He will not let me fail. This is the promise that He gives me through His Word.

No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

1 Corinthians 10:13 (NKJV)

You think I’m ready, God?

Thank you for your grace and mercy, for believing in me when I lack the confidence to face the day.

Love and trust the Lord; seek His will in your life.