This verse goes connected with the previous verse:
Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, James 1:2
We look at what ‘consider’ meant in this post. If verse two went alone, you might take this to say, ‘johnny, you just have to have faith’. The question that is never asked however is, ‘faith in what?’. Faith is only as powerful as the object in which it is placed. So, Hollywood’s version of ‘you just gotta have faith’ needs to be defined. By implication it is usually referring to have faith in yourself or faith in fate. Having faith in yourself sounds great but if you are trusting yourself to fly off of a building, your faith will without question fail.
Verse three introduces what we are to consider or rely on. It says knowing. Notice that it does not say just believe. God wants us to know the facts based on Truth, so that we can count on them in times when we are surrounded by uncertainty. We can count on difficult circumstances to be for our good because God is using it to mature us. This is encouraging to know.
Ok, so we count on the truth which we are to know – God uses circumstances (trials, testing) to bring about perseverance, endurance or patience in us. People who ignore (unaware of) this truth might go through life, perhaps even as christians, misunderstanding trials and misunderstanding why God allows them in our lives. This brings uncertainty and doubt in the life of a believer. They can even start to think that God doesn’t love them and that He’s angry.
There are many truths like this that we need to know in order to count on them by faith. These truths are intended to bring about a renewed hope and not doubt.
Despite the common thought, biblical faith is not blind. Biblical faith rests on the facts of God’s Truth.
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