Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds… — James 1:2

Reading: James 1:2-12

Reflection:

It was like a funeral march. No one talked. No one made eye contact. We shuffled along. Three hundred undergrad students at Iowa State University converged on the physics building at 7pm that spring evening. We were going there to take our two-hour physics final exam. We were going to be tested.

We all have a strong aversion to testing, whether it’s a two-hour physics final or our first driver’s exam or our heart stress test or our dreaded colonoscopy. And none of us — even the introverts — are enjoying our current experience: the coronavirus crisis.

Why do we find being tested so much of a challenge? It all boils down to the reality that testing reveals the truth, be it your knowledge of physics, your skill at driving, or your health. Yet the Bible tells us that we should embrace testing because it also works to refine us — to make us complete, to produce endurance, to produce character, to birth hope: Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing (vv. 2-4).

Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us (Romans 5:3-5).

So how do we respond to the coronavirus crisis? What truth is this test revealing? Where is this test leading us? I would suggest that the most important revelation from this test is that those things that we have cherished in the past — things that have given us identity, like our careers; things that have given us security, like our portfolios; things that have given us pleasure, like dining out and travel — are all idols that do not stand up.

Our only true identity, confident security, eternal hope, and enduring pleasure is in God: Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed; he will answer him from his holy heaven with the saving might of his right hand. Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God (Psalm 20:6-7).

The popular song “The Prayer” pleads for God to lead us to a safe place:

I pray you’ll be our eyes 
And watch us where we go
And help us to be wise 
In times when we don’t know
Let this be our prayer 
When we lose our way
Lead us to a place 
Guide us with your grace
To a place where we’ll be safe

Scripture answers that request for a safe place in the beauty of Psalm 61: Hear my cry, O God, listen to my prayer; from the end of the earth I call to you when my heart is faint. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I, for you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy. Let me dwell in your tent forever! Let me take refuge under the shelter of your wings! Selah (vv. 1-4).

Response:

1. Be circumspect about the coronavirus crisis, knowing that it may work in you to draw you to God.
   
   
2. Contemplate your sources of identity, security, joy, and hope. Dismiss those idols that don’t stand up to the test.
   
   
3. Rest on the rock that is higher than I and trust in the shelter of his wings (Psalm 61:2, 4).