“My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” James 1:2-4
Count it all joy…? Did I read that correctly? It seems daily we are faced with some new kind of trial. Perhaps, it is the news that someone you love has just found out they have cancer. My husband was just given the news yesterday that one of his close friends and co-workers was told she has lung cancer; and that one of the pastors from our church has skin cancer and won’t make it to Christmas. The heaviness of this news brought him to tears.
My dear cousin, only two months older than me, lost her husband a few months ago. Upon her husband’s passing, she received news from the doctor’s that she has cancer throughout her entire body. The doctors haven’t agreed upon how long she has to live. So much to bear, grieving the loss of your husband, and grasping the gravity of your own health situation. Yet, she holds on to hope. She shines as a light. Her faith strong, rooted in her love for the Lord.
I marvel at Job’s response to his friends, “Thou he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.” Job 13:15
Was it easy or difficult for Job to say? I have been through trials of my own. My immediate response was, “Help, Lord! Quickly! Can we get this over with?!” In His time, I learned how kind and tender the Lord is. He is well acquainted with suffering.
I anchor to Job 23:10, “But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.”
“Though He slay me I will trust Him,”
Said the sainted Job of old;
“Though He try me in the furnace,
I shall come forth as gold.”
“Though the ‘worms of deep affliction’
Cause the body to decay,
In my flesh I shall behold Him -
My Redeemer some glad day.”
“Though He slay me” - can I say it
When I feel the searing fire,
When my fondest dreams lie shattered,
Gone my hope and fond desire?
“Though He slay me, I will trust Him,”
For He knows just how to mold,
How to melt and shape my spirit -
I shall then come forth as gold!
Author Unknown
