Cartoonology. There is great theology in cartoons and comics.
I have never personally known anyone who fell into a well, but I do recall a time when my baby sister, Ellen, fell into the hog pen. Dad had told us to stay away because the hogs would eat us, but for some reason that did not deter us from climbing up on top of the sheltered part of the pen. When Ellen fell in, I was sure she was going to die, so I went running straight to the house to tell Mom. Ellen didn’t seem too concerned when Mom came to her rescue and she had already climbed out. Other than having a little mud and manure on her, she was fine.
James addresses the subject of falling into trouble.
James 1:2 (NKJV)
2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,
The word “fall” in this text is a combination of two Greek words, which translates “fall into”. The NKJV translates the KJV word “temptations” correctly as trials. In other words, James is not talking about falling into temptation of sin only, but about falling into trouble as well. He will talk exclusively about temptation of sin later on in the chapter. Here, he is talking about the testing that comes from trials such as sickness, disease, accidents, disappointments, sorrows, suffering, and death, as well as temptations such as all the seductions to sin and evil. It seems odd that he would tell us to “count it all joy”. How can we do that? Why should we?
Maybe this will make sense. A trial or test is designed to prove. Sometimes God sends trials. Other times we simply bring them on ourselves. Either way, God will use them to prove what kind of faith we have in Him. We can count it joy when we stand the test and grow in our faith because of it. The person, Job, is a good example of this (Job 42:7-17). We must understand, however, that the joy only comes to those who persevere with faith in God through troubles and trials. Few of us would consider troubles and trials a joy. It is the victory and blessing of proving our faith that brings the joy. There might be many tears shed to get to that point. Thanks to the Lord Jesus who promised to give us His joy (John 15:11). We just need to continually remember what He suffered for us. What great joy!! 03-03-09
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