Maybe you almost didn’t open this article today.
Not because you don’t love God, or because your faith is weak. But maybe this has been one of those seasons where simply getting out of bed feels like a victory.
Maybe it’s a marriage that’s running on fumes. A child walking away from everything you taught them. A doctor’s report that rewrote your entire year.
Or maybe it’s a loneliness that nobody around you even knows about, because you’ve gotten really good at smiling through it.
And here’s the thing that makes it worse.
Somewhere along the way, someone gave you the impression that enough faith would make life feel easier. That the right prayer would lift the weight. So when the weight stays, you start wondering if you’re doing something wrong. Or worse — if God is doing something to you.
I get it. I’ve been there too.
Here’s what I want you to know before we go any further: your trials are not pointless, and they do not mean God has abandoned you.
In This Article
Can I say that again? Your trials are not pointless. James 1 does not minimize pain, but it does teach us that God can use pressure to form faith that endures.
And getting from where you are to actually believing that? That takes more than a motivational quote. It takes the kind of wisdom that only comes from God’s Word.
That’s exactly where James meets us in the first chapter of his letter.
This article is part 1 of the Faith That Works series through the book of James.
What James 1 Says to People Under Pressure
James was written by the half-brother of Jesus. Not one of the twelve apostles — the actual brother of the Lord, who didn’t believe in Him during His earthly ministry. After the resurrection, everything changed. James became a pillar of the early church in Jerusalem, and he wrote this letter with both authority and hard-won experience.
He wasn’t writing to people with easy lives.
He was writing to believers who had been scattered across hostile territories, uprooted from their homes, trying to hold their faith together under pressure that most of us can barely imagine. And the very first thing he says to these suffering, displaced believers is not “hang in there” or “it’ll get better soon.”
He says this:
“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
James 1:2–4 (ESV)
If your first reaction to that is “easier said than done” then you are in good company.
But before you close the tab, stay with me. Because James is not telling you to pretend the pain isn’t real. He is telling you something far more important: the pain has a purpose. And once you see what that purpose is, it changes everything about how you carry it.
God Uses Trials to Grow Your Faith
Let’s be clear about what James is not saying. He is not telling you to paste a smile on your face while your world falls apart. He is not asking you to pretend the hard thing isn’t hard.
“Count It All Joy” Doesn’t Mean Fake It
The word “count” in verse 2 is a deliberate choice of perspective. It’s a decision. James is saying, “Make a conscious, intentional choice to see your trial through the lens of what God is doing in it.”
That is a completely different thing than denial.
Trials Are Tools, Not Punishments
Here is the framework James gives us. God allows a trial. The trial tests your faith the way fire tests gold. If your faith is genuine, it holds. And in the holding, something grows.
That something is called steadfastness — sometimes translated as endurance or patience. It simply means the ability to remain under pressure without collapsing. Spiritual staying power in the context James is using.
And steadfastness, over time, produces maturity. The word “perfect” in verse 4 does not mean sinless. It means fully formed. Complete. Whole.
Here is the hard part: most of us want that maturity without the process. We want the fruit without the season. But James is clear — the path to wholeness runs straight through hardship. There is no shortcut.
You Need Wisdom, Not Just Relief
Knowing that trials produce endurance is helpful theology. But when the doctor calls, when the marriage fractures, when the money runs out — you do not need a theology lecture in that moment. You need to know what to do next.
James speaks directly to that need in verses:
“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.”
James 1:5–6 (ESV)
Wisdom, in the biblical sense, is not intelligence or information. It is the ability to see your life from God’s perspective and trust His judgment over your own. It is knowing what to do with what you are going through.
And James says God gives it generously. That phrase “without reproach” means God does not shame you for asking. He does not say, “You should already know this.” He gives freely to anyone who asks in faith.
When Your Faith Feels Divided
Here is where James gets uncomfortably specific. He warns against asking God for wisdom while remaining unwilling to actually submit to whatever God says. He calls this being double-minded: a person with divided loyalty.
The double-minded person prays, “God, show me what to do,” but will only obey if the answer is comfortable. That is not faith. That’s negotiation.
You cannot hold your own plan in one hand and God’s wisdom in the other. James says that person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord, not because God is withholding, but because they have never actually opened their hands to receive it.
Hardship Is a Test. So Is Prosperity.
James makes a move in verses 9 through 11 that might surprise you. He shifts from talking about suffering to talking about money. And he tells both the poor believer and the rich believer essentially the same thing: your circumstances are not your identity.
The poor believer can rejoice because in Christ, their status has been lifted. The world may overlook them, but God has not.
The rich believer is reminded that wealth fades. Status is temporary. James compares earthly success to a wildflower — beautiful in the morning, scorched by noon.
The point is not that poverty is spiritual or that wealth is sinful. As Bible teacher John Phillips put it:
“There is nothing particularly spiritual about being poor, and there is nothing particularly sinful about being rich. Temptations exist at both extremes.”
Whether you have much or little, the question James is really asking is this: Where is your identity anchored? In your circumstances or in Christ?
Temptation Is Not From God
James draws one more critical line before closing this section. He separates trials from temptation.
A trial is external pressure — the circumstance, the hardship, the hard season. Temptation is what happens inside you in response to that pressure. It is when external pain becomes an internal pull toward sin, unbelief, or self-destruction.
And James is direct: do not blame God for that pull.
“Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God,’ for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.”
James 1:13–14 (ESV)
Desire becomes dangerous when it is disordered. That’s when it wants the right thing at the wrong time, or the wrong thing disguised as the right thing. And unchecked desire follows a predictable path: desire conceives, gives birth to sin, and sin when fully grown brings death. Not always physical death, but deadness — dead relationships, dead conscience, dead intimacy with God.
Personal responsibility matters here. We cannot say, “God made me this way,” or “God put this in front of me.” We are responsible for what we do with what we feel.
God’s Character Is Your Anchor
James closes this section with one of the most grounding statements in the entire letter:
“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 (ESV)
No variation. No shadow. No shifting. God does not have off days. His character does not change based on your circumstances or your feelings about Him.
And His greatest gift? New life. Verse 18 tells us He brought us forth by the word of truth — not because we earned it, but because He wanted to.
When everything around you is shaking, this is what holds: God is good. He is the source of every good thing in your life. He does not send evil. He sends life.
Four Ways to Put James 1 Into Practice This Week
Reading James 1 is one thing. Living it on a Tuesday morning when everything feels like it’s falling apart is another. Here are four practical steps you can take this week to move from knowing this truth to actually walking in it.
- Name Your Trial Out Loud
James does not ask you to ignore your pain. He asks you to see it differently. But you cannot see it differently until you are honest about what it actually is.
Take five minutes today and write it down. Not a prayer list. Not a vague “I’m going through a hard time.” Get specific. Name the marriage struggle. Name the financial pressure. Name the fear you have been carrying quietly for months.
You cannot hand something to God that you have not yet acknowledged is in your hands.
- Ask God for Wisdom, Not Just Relief
Relief is not a wrong thing to ask for. But relief is not always what God gives on our timeline. Wisdom is what carries you through when relief does not come when you expect it.
Before you get out of bed tomorrow morning, pray this simple prayer:
“God, I don’t just need this situation to change. I need to see it the way You see it. Give me wisdom today.”
That one shift — from asking for relief to asking for wisdom — is the difference between enduring a trial and being grown by it.
- Check Your Hands for Double-Mindedness
This one is uncomfortable, but James does not let us skip it. Ask yourself honestly:
- Are you asking God for direction but only willing to obey if the answer fits your preference?
- Are you praying for wisdom while already having your mind made up?
- Is there an area of your life where you are holding your own plan so tightly that there is no room for God’s answer?
Double-mindedness is not always obvious. It often looks like sincere prayer on the surface. The tell is what happens when God’s answer costs you something you were not prepared to give up.
Open your hands. All the way.
- Stop Blaming God for the Pull You Feel
If you have been in a hard season long enough, you know how quickly external pressure becomes internal temptation. The trial does not create the sin, but it can expose what was already there.
If you have been angry at God for the pull you feel toward sin, toward bitterness, toward numbing out, James wants you to stop and redirect that. God is not the source of that pull. He is the source of every good thing in your life.
When the temptation rises, bring it to Him instead of blaming Him for it. That is not weakness. That is exactly what faith under pressure looks like.
This week, name the trial, ask God for wisdom, resist the lie that He has abandoned you, and take the next faithful step.
“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 (ESV)
Faith That Endures Keeps Walking
Your trials are not pointless. Your temptation is not from God. And the wisdom you need for today is available right now — if you are willing to ask for it with open hands.
That is faith that endures.
This is Week 1 of our Faith That Works series through the book of James. Continue with Week 2 or download the full Faith That Works Study Guide to go deeper.
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