2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; 3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing . 5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering . For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed . 7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. 8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
OBSERVATION QUESTIONS:
1) How are believers to respond when we “fall into various trials”? (v.2)?
2) What does this “testing of your faith” produce (v.3)?
3) What are the three benefits if we “let patience have its perfect work” (v.4)?
4) What are believers to do if we lack wisdom during a test or trial (v.5)?
5) What must believers demonstrate, without doubting (v.6)?
6) What is likely to happen if we doubt (v.7)?
7) What becomes of the double minded man (v. 8)?
APPLICATION QUESTIONS:
1) How should you handle trials and tests when they happen to you? Why?
2) What have been the blessings of the tests and/or trials that you have endured? Why?
3) Have you ever lacked wisdom concerning a trial or test?
4) What have you done to get the wisdom you need to overcome a trial or test?
LIFE LESSONS:
1) The Lord allows us to fall into various trials or tests to produce godly character in us.
2) The Lord expects us to ask Him for His wisdom when we're being tested or tried.
I just joined this study so I am playing "catch up." This was a wonderful lesson. I love the Application Questions. They really allow me to dig deep into my heart about issues.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to share with you the most recent test/trial that has happened in my life and the blessing that came from it. I am going to paraphrase because there is SO MUCH to this story.
Basically, a man was out to get my Dad over business reasons. (The man no longer had my Dad's business and was NOT happy about it). Therefore, he went to extreme measures to make sure my Dad lost his job. False accusations were made against my Dad, which was heartbreaking for my family and I. My Dad ended up losing his job and the company was not able to give him a reason why. Completely blind-sided, but we knew who it was that caused this. The fact that he lost his job was not THAT bad. My parents had saved up money for a while and so that, thankfully, was not going to be a huge issue for them. The big issue for me was knowing what the town was saying about my Dad. It ripped me apart.
Now, here we are, 7 or so months later and we can see the blessings in it. My parents moved towns and are able to be around family again. They are happy, healthy (my Dad was very stressed out in his job), and doing great. My Dad was very bitter about the situation at first, but now he tells us "That was SUCH a blessing." I can't tell you how happy that makes me. I told my mom at the beginning of this ordeal that something good was going to come out of it even if we could not see that now. We see the blessings in that trial and for that, we are so thankful.
-julia