The Hand of God in Hard Times James 1:1–8 We rarely see value in hard times. Why listen to James? (William Varner) 1. James Was Once Blinded by the Light. 2. James Was Then Brought to the Light. Evidently it took witnessing the miracle of the resurrection for His siblings to recognize who Jesus really was. The risen Jesus actually appeared personally to James, according to 1 Corinthians 15:7. James Is Now Bearing the Light. The following passages indicate the major role of James as the eventual leader of the Jerusalem believers. The original leader of the apostles, Peter, was eventually replaced by James, whom Paul also recognized as the number one man in the movement. The following passages reveal his very important role: Galatians 1:18–19; 2:9; Acts 5:13–21; 21:17–26. He was the first of the “pillar apostles”: James, Peter, and John. As a slave of God and Christ, James spoke authoritatively to the entire church both then and now. The believer can have joy in the hard times of life because He knows that God is using them. If God commands us to consider/count it all joy, when trials unexpectedly arrive in our lives, If God uses them to create endurance and supply our faith with what we lack even though trials are hard and they hurt, Then why do we have such a hard time with hard times? We lack wisdom. We lack the ability to Biblically handle hard times because We are not taking in the Scriptures and We are not talking to God like we should. Application There is no wisdom from God apart from the Word of God. 3 R's of Navigating Trials Realize value in hard times. Read God’s Word to grow your faith. Rely upon God through prayer.