Hands of Love

Last night I read in James, "My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into diverse temptations..."  Falling isn't a joyful experience.  Skinned knees, broken bones, torn clothes, and embarrassment can all be effects of a fall.  Yet this is the very first exhortation James gives in his epistle:  "Count it all joy when you fall."  In context, James is not speaking of a literal fall or being overtaken by sin.  He is talking about times in our lives when we experience difficult trials.  The trial itself may not be joyful, but in Christ we can respond with pure joy knowing that God is working for our good and His glory through it.  James 1:2-4 says, "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, ³ knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. ⁴ But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing."  When our faith is tested, patience is produced.  It is God's way of bringing us to completion.

Sometimes we experience pain and discomfort because of our wandering, even like a wayward, stubborn sheep.  In ancient times, if a young sheep was prone to wander the shepherd would carefully break a leg of that sheep.  He would carry the sheep wherever he went and a close bond would form.  Even after the leg healed and the sheep could run away, it would freely choose to remain near the shepherd.  From the perspective of the sheep, a broken leg was a painful trial.  But somehow, through the continuous gentle care of the shepherd, the sheep knew that staying with the shepherd was the place of safety.  When we wander, the Good Shepherd Jesus Christ may discipline us sharply.  The purpose of this is to keep us closer to Him in the future.  That is why David wrote after his sin with Bathsheba in Psalm 51:6-8, "Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom. ⁷ Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. ⁸ Make me hear joy and gladness, that the bones You have broken may rejoice."

Did you catch that last verse?  "Make me hear joy and gladness, that the bones You have broken may rejoice."  Broken bones rejoicing!  A loving father disciplines his children, and God disciplines those He loves.  He allows trials, difficulties, and even chastens us so we might mature in faith.  When we recognise the love behind those hands which can hurt, even the bones which are broken rejoice.  No one curses a surgeon for cutting through skin to reach the malignant tumor that will cause certain death.  The surgeon that successfully operates is counted as a hero, not a villain!  Job understood the goodness of God though he found his life bitter.  He said in Job 13:15, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. Even so, I will defend my own ways before Him."  By the end of the book of Job, he had changed.  He still trusted God no matter what, even at the cost of his own life.  But his suffering taught him the folly of justifying himself before the holy, All-Powerful God.  As long as we walk upon this earth, even the most righteous require refinement.

May we have this heart of trust and faith in the God who loves us and sent Jesus Christ as Saviour.  Whether we find ourselves fallen in a trial or being chastened by a God, never allow you pain to blind you from the loving God who wounds and heals. God proclaims in Deuteronomy 32:39, "Now see that I, even I, am He, and there is no God besides Me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; nor is there any who can deliver from My hand."  No one can snatch us out of those loving hands, hands pierced with crude Roman nails.  Abide there, believer.  May the joy of the LORD be your strength!