Studies from the Book of James
Theme A God for all Seasons. 5:13-20

Preached by Pastor Jack Anderson
Bethel Church Isle of Man

Introduction The Epistle of James is as relevant today as it was in the first century. James calls on the Church to be in touch with a hurting world, and we live in a world of hurts.

The Church must reach out to the world with the message of hope. It is the duty of the Church to be in touch with a hurting world that is full of hurting people.

Someone has said concerning life, “that we do not live an equal life, but one of contrasts and patchwork; now a little joy, then a sorrow, now a sin, then a generous and a gracious action.

Life is full of variety and it is filled with pressure and pleasure. There are mountaintops and valleys, sunshine and rain, happiness and heartache.

Men for centuries have wrestled with the problem of how to cope; with the changeability life brings to the individual with all its triumphs and disasters.

It is these two factors of life’s changeability and the Christians attitude to life that James now brings together. This down to earth Preacher had observed the unhappy condition of people with pressure, and in particular Christians, and he gives them some very important counsel.

The Adversity James Sees

Is any among you afflicted? Amp ill-treated suffering evil

The word afflicted, means suffering in difficult circumstances.

Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray

James is well aware, that in a fast changing world, the best thing that the believer can do is to keep in constant touch with the Unchanging God.

Whatever the season may be in life the child of God can trust in the One who is the God for all seasons. This is a very precious truth for us to grasp for the Christian to lay hold on. We have a God for all seasons, a God who can handle any situation that we may face on the road of life. The Hymn writer knew this and penned these words.

And although my love is off times low
My joy still ebbs and flows
But peace with God remains the same
No change Jehovah knows.
Yesterday today forever Jesus is the same
All may change but Jesus never
Glory to His Name.

The Compassions of our God never fail and His mercies are new every morning and fresh every evening, great is His Faithfulness. Through the changing fortunes of life we can depend on the unchanging God.

This is the message that James is seeking to get across to these persecuted believers. As God’s people go through life, they often must endure difficulties that are not the results of sin or the chastening God, but are the attacks of the World.

James has in mind the evil blows that the children of God receive from the outside world when they are seeking to live a holy life, a life that brings glory to God. Many centuries earlier David the psalmist wrote, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous”

The Apostle Paul exhorts Believers “To glory in tribulations” This is something that we can do, only through the power of the Holy Spirit and the enabling grace of God.

Paul was criticised by his friends, buffeted by Satan, and sneered at by the authorities that held him with contempt. He was even forsaken by his brethren. Yet he was still able to Glory in his tribulations, Why, He was a man of Prayer, and one who trusted in the God for all seasons, he trusted in the unchanging God.

How do we react to times of trouble and adversity? Do we blame others for our misfortune? Do we even blame God? Like Israel of old, when the waters are bitter, we mummer and complain? Or do we pray.

Thomas A Kempis; Adversities do not make a man frail; they show what sort of man he is.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon; As sure as ever God puts his children in the furnace; he will be in the furnace with them.

Yet we can be guilty of turning this way and that for help instead of turning to the God for all seasons. God could have kept Daniel out of the lions' den He could have kept Paul and Silas out of jail.

He could have kept the three Hebrew children out of the fiery furnace. But God has never promised to keep us out of hard places. What he has promised is to go with us through every hard place, and to bring us through victoriously.

Isa 41:10 Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

Isa 43 2 When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.

3 For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour:

Friends, the God for all seasons says to His people. Psa 50:15 and call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. What a Promise

James is saying. Take your Troubles to the Lord.

2. The Advice James Gives

What kind of troubles do we find in this world?

1> Universal Trouble. This in a sense covers all others, for the troubles of mankind originated when sin entered the world, which God had created perfect.

Rom 8:22 for we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.

The earth has been affected by the fall. Man is not what he was meant to be, and he is certainly not what he was, when God created him.

But neither is the natural world, for it is under the curse. Therefore, mankind suffers a host of what we might call natural troubles because of the effect of sin on God’s creation.

2> Physical Troubles. In his original state man was without disease and disorder. God made Adam without any physical defect, weakness or deformity. But the entrance of sin brought disease, disorder, decay and ultimately death.

The minute Adam sinned he was prone to disease and sentenced to die. It is appointed unto man once to die and death can be preceded by the most savage agony and the torture of lingering pain.

How we should hate sin because of the suffering it has brought into the world. How we should hate sin because of the suffering the Saviour endured on the cross, when He shed His is precious blood to redeem sinners and to bring them back to God

3> Mental Troubles. It has been estimated that one in five of the population of Great Britain will at sometime or other suffer from some kind of mental disorder before they die.

This is because of the pressure of modern day life and the stress factor which is involved.

We live in a society where the law of the jungle prevails; it’s the survival of the fittest. This kind of pressure affects the body, family life, and the whole fabric of society, including Christians as well.

4> Spiritual Troubles. Paul reminds us

Eph 6:12 for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Let us never forget that we are opposed daily by a living, intelligent, and a very powerful enemy, that old serpent, the Devil who continually prowls around whom he may devour. He is out to destroy the testimony of the Lord’s people and often he succeeds.

James says 4:7 submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.

Draw near to God in Prayer. Is prayer a dying art among Christians today? I fear that the answer to that question is "yes." I hope I am wrong. With the lack of attendance at Church prayer meetings, I have come to the conclusion that we do far more talking about praying than we do actual praying.

A. Pray when you are Bruised.

When we are down because of the trouble that has come our way, we should pray. There are times when we are hurting –– bruised and beat up –– because of the circumstances in which we find ourselves. Those are difficult times.

At those times we do not want to pray. In fact, we do not want to do anything. Often, all we want to do is give up and quit. But what we really need to do is to take our hurt –– our trouble –– to God.

B. Pray when you are Broken.

By broken, I mean that God has brought you to the place of brokenness over your sinful selfishness. Often, we harden our hearts concerning our sin. We ignore it as if it doesn’t really matter to God. But is does matter to God. And if He needs to get our attention by bringing chastening into our lives, He will do that.

God is far more interested in our walk with Him than in our comfort. He is perfectly willing to make us uncomfortable to bring us back to Him. In fact, He is willing to do whatever is necessary to break us rather than allow us to destroy ourselves.

C. Pray when you are Backslidden,

This is not only true for us but also for others as well. We should pray for ourselves and for others that have strayed from the truth. Martin Luther As it is the business of tailors to make clothes and of cobblers to mend shoes, so it is the business of Christians to pray.

4 Spiritual Troubles.

5 Special Troubles.

The trouble I have in mind here is suffering for the sake of the Gospel of Christ. Those times of hardship that the believer may be called to endure, as a soldier of the cross and a follower of the Lamb.

Paul exhorts Timothy 2 Tim 2:3 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Then speaking of his own situation he says

2 Tim 2:9 wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound.

2 Tim 4:5 But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.

These statements indicate that there is a special king of trouble that may come to those, who are seeking to live a godly life for the glory of God in a cursed world.

Every Christian is in a constant battle. They are locked in conflict with the Devil and the powers of darkness, with the old fleshly nature, and with the world.

2 Tim 3:12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

Speaking of the spirit of antichrist that is in the world, the apostle John writes.

4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

We claim the promise of Jesus for victory “Lo I am with you always even to the end of the age”

Illustration. Campbell Morgan—read this text from Matt 28:20, to a devout Christian woman one day, and he said to her, “that is a great Promise”. With a great smile on her face the woman replied, “ that is not only a promise it is a great reality.

2. The Advice James Gives v13 if any is afflicted among you let him pray

Prayer can remove affliction if it is God’s will to do so, but Prayer can also bring to us the Grace we need to endure troubles and to bring glory to God through them. Prayer can turn our troubles to triumphs.

Paul prayed that his circumstance might change and that the Thorn in his flesh might be removed.

God said to Paul “ My grace is sufficient for you” God gave his servant all the grace that he needed to turn his weakness into strength.

Jesus prayed in the garden of Gethsemane, that if were possible that the Cup might be removed from him. The cup was not removed, but the Father gave to Him the strength He needed to go to the cross and to yield up His life for the sins of the world.

Psalm 18 David speaks of some of the troubles, which he had known in his life.

Verse 4--- he says verse 6—he says.

As we read through this Psalm, we find that it is almost given over to the marvellous out come of David’s prayer. Verse 16-20 verses 30-32.

This whole Psalm affirms that God is personally and practically involved in the troubles of His people. After Israel had endured 400 years of slavery, God told His servant Moses

Exod 7 And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows

What a source of comfort and encouragement just to know that “The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and His ear is attentive to their cry” The Lord is acquainted with all our ways.

Friends, when days of darkness come into our lives, it is no more an indication that God is absent and has forsaken us, than the clouds indicate that the sun has left the sky.

Chinese Proverb-- A gem is not polished without rubbing, nor a man made perfect without trials.

Believing God's promises, the Christian is taken through difficulties of every shape and size. God never gives strength for tomorrow, or for the next hour, but only for the strain of the moment. Take your troubles to the Lord, and all your burdens and cares and leave them there

2. The Advice James Gives “is any among you afflicted let him pray.

Oh what peace we often forfeit
Oh what needless pain we bear
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in Prayer

CONCLUSION.

V 13 “ is any merry let him sing psalms” Amp (is anyone glad in heart? he should sing praise to God.

1 Take your Troubles to the Lord

2. Take your Triumphs to the Lord.

James reminds us that not everyone goes through troubles at the same time, for the Lord balances our days. There are hours of suffering but there are hours for singing.

We are to bless the Lord with our praises. Let us sing psalm unto the Lord. Praying and singing were important ingredients to the Blessing that the early Church enjoyed. Singing ought to be the expression of our inner spiritual life.

Psa 95:1 O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.

Psa 95:2 Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.

After the ascension of Jesus, the disciples returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple praising God. Joyful singing ought to be a characteristic of the Church. Angels listen for your songs, for your voice rises to the very gates of heaven when you praise God.

The God for all seasons waits to hear the prayers of His people and He is pleased, when His people bring him praise. Prayer and Praise identify the Believer and they bring glory to God. As one of old has said, “He, who does not praise God while here on earth, shall in eternity be dumb.

William Law. --- Receive every day as a resurrection from death, as a new enjoyment of life ... let your joyful heart praise and magnify so good and glorious a Creator and Redeemer.

The God for all seasons can give us a song in the night as well as a song in the day.

Illustration. An old lady was so radiant with the assurance of her salvation and with the assurance of going to heaven when she died. One day, an old sceptic said to her” supposing you don’t get there? Suppose you arrive at the gate of heaven and you fail to get in

The Old lady thought for a moment and then replied. “I would walk around the walls of heaven praising God for the wonderful time I had on the way there.

Her Theology was not right, but her heart was, for it was a heart that was filled with genuine praise for he Lord.

1 Take your Troubles to the Lord
2. Take your Triumphs to the Lord.

When all thy mercies, O my God!
My rising soul surveys,
Transported with the view,
I'm lost in wonder, love, and praise.