Trials Of Poverty & Trials Of Prosperity

When you cook a meal or bake a cake you mix everything up and put it in the oven and set the timer.  Time passes and then you hear the timer go off.  You go and look into the oven at what you are making and it looks good, it looks like it’s done.  But you don’t really know until you stick a fork into it or, in the case of a cake, a toothpick into it to see whether it is really done.  Because on the outside it looks done, but you really don’t know because you can’t see the inside and it may require a little more time before it is complete, and perfect, lacking nothing.

…that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.  (James 1:4)

James is teaching that God is doing a work in your life like that.  And often we go through the oven of various trials and troubles.  The “heat is on” as we often say.  And the work God is doing is not always obvious on the outside because God’s work is done primarily on the inside.  God is doing a work on the inside of us, building character within us, teaching us how to stand in the face of adversity.  So He knows how things are going inside of us and He knows how much more time we need to become mature, complete, lacking nothing.  

James then discusses two trials in which Christians may find themselves, trials of poverty and prosperity.

Perhaps we’re not prepared to place both of these situations in the same category.  We may see poverty as a trial; that seems clear enough, but if poverty and prosperity are both considered hardships, we may think, “Give me the trial of prosperity!  I think I can handle the trial of wealth, so bring it on!”

But the trial of prosperity may be more difficult to overcome than we think, especially if we live in a prosperous country.  If trials are regarded especially challenging because we have difficulty getting through them—acknowledging our temptation to take our eyes off Christ and look elsewhere, relying upon the world rather than the Lord—then perhaps we can see how easily we may stumble when we find ourselves in a trial of prosperity.  It’s a matter of perspective.  

Stay Focused with a Heavenly Perspective 

A recurring theme in James’ letter is the division between heavenly thinking and worldly thinking.  We will see him flesh out this teaching more fully as we progress through his letter.  He warns later for example: “Friendship with the world is enmity with God.  Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God (James 4:4).”

Christians must guard against their natural, fallen tendency to have a worldly perspective of success.  This is especially true regarding money and material possessions. 

God honors the poor (showing true prosperity) 

James writes, “Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation.” (James 1:9)

Contextually we see that verse 9 is meant to be contrasted with verse 10 where James addresses the rich.  So we know that this word “lowly” or “lowly brother” in verse 9 has to do with “low economic condition,” or poverty.  

In James’ day there really was no middle class.  For the most part, one was either rich or poor.  So if a Christian were poor he may be tempted to think, “Well, I’m just the lowest rung on the ladder in this world.”  Yet James comes along and says, “Hey, God sees this thing entirely differently and you need to see your situation entirely differently, too.  You’re looking at your situation from the wrong vantage point, you have merely a worldly perspective.” 

From a heavenly perspective, no Christian occupies the lowest rung on the ladder!  Christians have a very high position.  This is the sense of James’ exhortation in verse 9: “Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation.”  God honors the poor Christian, showing him his true wealth, his true prosperity, his spiritual riches in Christ.

If you are a Christian who is poor, remember that you are a Christian who is rich!  You may be poor from a worldly perspective, but you are rich from a heavenly perspective.  What could be better than to be saved from the penalty of sin and to gain an eternal inheritance?  You are spiritually wealthy!

James’ teaching is similar to Paul’s teaching elsewhere: 

Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

2 Corinthians 4:17-18

Stay focused with a heavenly perspective.  Don’t stumble and fall through your trial of poverty by thinking you are on the lowest rung of the ladder when you are actually on the highest rung of the ladder.  

**Excerpt from You’re Either Walking The Walk Or Just Running Your Mouth (Preaching Truth: 2020), pages 21-23, available on Amazon.