#132: Where is your Faith?

My brothers and sisters, consider yourselves fortunate when all kinds of trials come your way, for you know that when your faith succeeds in facing such trials, the result is the ability to endure. Make sure that your endurance carries you all the way without failing, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. But if any of you lack wisdom, you should pray to God, who will give it to you; because God gives generously and graciously to all. But when you pray, you must believe and not doubt at all. Whoever doubts is like a wave in the sea that is driven and blown about by the wind. People like that, unable to make up their minds and undecided in all they do, must not think that they will receive anything from the LORD. James 1:2-8

The letter from James is a collection of practical instructions written to all God's people scattered over the whole world (v1). Just like the other disciples who eventually went on to write epistles, they were inspired from the multitudes of the things they heard, the things they saw, and the things they touched (I John 1:1; II Peter 1:16). And so James must have drawn from a practical experience that he had with Jesus, where his faith in Him was put to the test and even though in that instant, he failed, he is urging us that we can learn from him and be better. This study is a continuation of a previous post: Immanuel in our storms. God bless us and grant us understanding and light as we study together.

That fateful night, the winds blew, the rains fell, the storms raged, but Jesus was sleeping. James knew the sea. He and his brother John had spent a bulk of their lives in the sea, fishing with their father before Jesus called them. The situation that faced him at that moment had been in the obituary of many other great fishermen who lost their lives in the sea. He knew what was coming and he went to wake his master from his sleep: "Master, do you not care that we perish?". But he would never forget the look Jesus gave him. A questioning look. And after calming the storm, He turned back to them and said "where is your faith?". This question dumbfounded James and the other disciples. He thought that calling on the LORD was in itself an act of faith. But he realized that his faith had wavered. It was no different from the waves of the storm. A faith dependent on the weather. A faith that could not withstand trials.

James would relive this moment for the rest of his life; where he called on God as if to show his faith in Him, but it was actually because he had lost faith in Him and his faith was now in the storm. Jesus asked him, "where is your faith? In the strength of storms of life or in Me? Is your faith still in Me to see you THROUGH this storm safely to the shore?"

We are faced daily with these type of practical situation. But the LORD is asking us today, "where is your faith?" Consider these excerpts from the letter of James:

If you lack wisdom (in these trying times; if you seem overwhelmed by the situations surrounding), ask God for wisdom and He will guide you. 

Whoever doubts is like a wave in the sea driven and blown about. People like this should never think that they will receive anything from the LORD. whenever you ask, believe without doubt.

Consider yourself fortunate when faced with trials. When your faith succeeds in facing the trials, the result is endurance.

Thought: When the storms were raging and Jesus was sleeping, which of the two looked more powerful? This is an important picture to remember because when the storms of life hit, they almost always appear stronger to us than God's word. And the most important question hanging over our heads at such moments is, "where is your faith?"