March 9, 2023

James 5: 13 Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. (NIV)

Worship is the truest and best expression of both sorrow and joy.*

If someone had asked the Apostle Paul what to do if he was in trouble, Paul might have replied, “I thank God for you. I have heard of your troubles and my heart is sad for you. When your heart is troubled, you should pray.” James, on the other hand, just barely refrains from saying, “Duh! If you are in trouble, pray.” Paul did a lot of his writing from prison so perhaps he had time to be wordier. James, on the other hand, did not have Paul’s education or the time to be subtle. As someone said of him, “He was a simple, homespun preacher, perturbed at people who were not living right.”*

James’ advice to the troubled is pretty much the same as he offers to the happy: worship. For the non-Christian, life’s problems prompt negative responses. Depression. Blame. Retaliation.  A non-believer’s expression of happiness may resemble that of a Christian’s, but it is a shallow sort of celebration when you have no one to whom to direct your joy. Meanwhile, we Christians can become arrogant when we fail to acknowledge God as the source of our happiness.

Because James is succinct in his advice, we might miss the subtext. The first is that praying in times of trouble is the appropriate response, not a solution. Your troubles may or may not go away; God may have a purpose for them. The second subtext is personal responsibility. The appropriate response to trouble or happiness requires us to be proactive – to take the initiative. James doesn’t imply that prayer and praise will just occur spontaneously at the right time because we have been directed by the proper feelings. We must do it intentionally.

In good times and bad, God wants us to turn to him in worship. He is worthy of our praise and his Spirit is our Comforter. He multiplies our joy and divides our sorrow when we bring them to him.

May praise and worship of You be my first response to every circumstance.*