The only way we can look at these trials and rejoice in them is if we understand that we need perseverance. As long as our faith can't handle resistance, our faith will always fail.

Jesus taught, and James repeats it here, that we need to have perseverance. If our faith can't withstand trials and disappointments, if we allow ourselves to get discouraged and give up, then we have little chance of receiving anything from God. If our faith wavers based on the circumstances we see in front of us, and isn't built on the solid rock of God's word and promises, then we will almost always be disappointed.

The problem that I've found is that I tend to blame God. I keep asking Him why He doesn't answer my prayers, and the answer I keep getting back from Him is: "Why won't you believe? Don't you know that all things are possible for the person who believes?"

God's goal is to bring us through our trials and help us develop the perseverance to overcome any resistance that we might encounter. The resistance will begin to expose the doubts and fears that we have which will allow us to confront and overcome the lies that are causing them. God understands that the perfecting of our faith is more important than getting the answers to our prayers.

It's not that God won't answer our prayers, because He has promised that He will. The truth is that God wants our faith to stand up under any difficulty, in spite of any trial, and in the face of overwhelming problems. He knows that if we will let perseverance finish its work, if we will continue to rejoice in the trials because we understand what He is doing, we will perfect our faith and we will then never lack anything again.

The only question we need to ask ourselves is: Are we willing to let perseverance finish its work? If we do, the rewards are exceedingly abundantly beyond anything we could ask or imagine. Then we will finally experience the promise of Psalm 23, "The Lord is my shepherd, I do not lack."

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