The young war correspondent was covering the Boer war in 1899. He was riding an armored train with British soldiers. Suddenly, the train was attacked and derailed by the Boers! The correspondent had great leadership qualities, he seized the moment and began escorting soldiers to a path of escape. Unfortunately, not all escaped, and the young correspondent was also captured. He hated being a POW. So, one dark night, with no knowledge of the language, no map, and only "four slabs of melting chocolate and a crumbling biscuit" he made a run for it, climbed the fence and disappeared into the South-African bush. By day, he hid, by night, he traveled, and stole food. Finally, the hunger was too much, so, he knocked on a random door. He didn't know whether the man was a friend or foe, but his situation looked hopeless, and he had nothing to lose. It was a friend. A fellow brit who hid him and helped him get back to a safe zone.
It's 1915, our war correspondent is now the British Lord of the Admiralty, and World War 1 is raging. The naval officer has a bold plan. It was to send enough ships to the far east, seize Constantinople and bring more pressure to bear on the Central powers in a new front. This would take some pressure off the French front, in theory. In reality, it was a total disaster! 45'000 allied troops died! The officer took the brunt of the blame and was practically forced to resign. Now, his political career looked hopeless.
It's 1940, and our naval officer is now the prime minister! Unfortunately, it's also World War 2. The Nazi machine seems unstoppable. France has ceased to exist. The British troops had to beat a hasty retreat out of Dunkirk. What of the Soviets? Why, right now, they are friendly with this menace! The Americans? They are sitting on their hands, and you can't depend on them. No, this is 1940. France is no more. Poland is no more. Norway is no more. Austria is no more. Britain stands alone, facing a monster just across the channel. The situation does look hopeless. Yet, this man has seen and lived in hopeless situations before. It's time for another speech to the parliament. With all this as his backdrop, what can he say? Well, he said quite a bit, but here are the closing remarks, "...Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be freed and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, This was their finest hour." -Winston Churchill.
So, are bad things bad? Well, what did James say?
James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. 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 1:1-4
When you encounter a problem. No matter what that problem is, embrace it! Don't do the normal human thing of running from it, of becoming depressed, despondent, etc. Instead, give the problem to God, then hang onto God, and ride this out. "Divers temptations" pretty much literally means all sorts of trouble. Now then, while the problem runs its course, your faith will be tested. Will God be God for me or not? Do I believe in God? Do my circumstances define who God is? Yes, Yes, and No. God is God, present circumstances are real but not more so than eternal reality. Believe in that unseen reality. God has the problem solved out there somewhere in the future. In that future, God is solving that problem. You meanwhile are in the present. Believe in that future, even if you might not like the how of the solution.
As your faith is tested, and the tests are passed. A strange thing happens, it's called patience, what is patience? I think patience is that supernatural ability to relax while being shipwrecked emotionally or physically. In this context, what James wrote means something like, an enduring/constant steadfastness. For example, you might be sitting on an island surrounded by salt water and sand. Feeling quite alone, and seeing no land of any substance anywhere. Yet, you relax and enjoy the sun, because somewhere out there in a future that is just as real as your present circumstance, there is God, and He is working on your solution. That ability to relax and wait for the future to come, that is patience.
When I say God is solving ALL problems I am not espousing a word of faith teaching. Word of faith teaching claims that future solutions will all be brought into our circumstances in this life. In reality, some of the solutions are, and yet, at other times, the solutions are in another realm waiting for us to enter that realm. That last one is hard to accept at times I know, yet, it is still a solution.
One more powerful concept from James. Faith tested, patience has come, and now what? Let patience finish working its way through you. It's a gift from God, as patience completes her work in your heart, you become complete as well. Let's think about the shipwrecked person. May I ask you, all things being equal, who will make better decisions about how to find food, water, and a boat, the patient one who is relaxed, at peace, and calm? Or the one who is losing his mind with anxiety and panic? Oftentimes, God will use the gifts he's given us along with the newfound patience he's given us as how He gives us the solution. In doing this, He gives us yet another gift, the sense that we were part of it. The sense that we were literally able to partner with God in overcoming an obstacle. I personally am experiencing this right now with some health niggles. Once that's complete, perhaps I will write a blog entitled, "How God and I Fixed my Health."
Yet, even if God decides to employ a miracle to solve your problem and you have nothing to do with it, this newfound peace and calm will bring you closer to being that complete disciple who acts like Christ when he's surprised. To me, that's what it would mean to be perfect and entire, a person who naturally is made in such a way that he or she conducts him or herself the way Christ would in his or her situation without having to think about it.
