James 1:9-11

The trials of life have a way of leveling all of us. Trials can make the poor person rich and trials can make the rich person poor. James talks about that in James 1 verse 9, “Let the brother of low degree [that’s the poor person] rejoice in that he is exalted: but the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of grass he shall pass away.” 

Now how do trials make poor people rich? Well to begin with God never wastes suffering. God never allow suffering to come to one of His children unless He has a specific purpose in mind. That means that the trials of life that God permits show us how important we are to Him. We sometimes think that God shows His favor to us by keeping away the trials. Well how would you explain Moses or David or Jeremiah or Paul or the Lord Jesus Christ? No, trails make the poor man rich by showing him how important he is to God; God never wastes suffering.

Secondly, God uses suffering to enrich our character. Some of the greatest Christians I have met in my years of ministry are people who were poor in this world’s goods but so rich in the things of the Lord. And God takes the poor man and enriches him in character, making him more like the Lord Jesus Christ. He is exalted because he’s sharing in the fellowship of Christ suffering.

How do trials make the rich man poor? Well he sees that he’s only grass, he’s temporary. His wealth can’t change his circumstances very much. The rich man has to depend upon the same grace of God that the poor man depends on as he goes through trials. You see, trials have a way of leveling us. When we are leveled at the foot of the cross then God can do something for us. We should never in our trials look around and say, “Well, if I only had more money, if I only had more education, if only I had a better social status.” God says, “No, I’m leveling everybody, all of you need to live by faith, all of you need to trust My grace, and all of you will glorify My name if only you will trust Me.”