God’s word is a medicine cabinet! It has prescriptions for all conditions. In this verse, two conditions are identified with their respective recommendations. The first has to do with believers going through suffering. They are to take their suffering to God in prayer. That’s what Jesus did. “And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” (Luke 22:44 NKJV). In 1 Peter 2:23, Peter called our attention to Jesus’ response to suffering. – “who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously;” In a recent post, we learned that we must avoid murmuring when things are not going our way. One therapy to avoid murmuring is prayer. When we pray, God gives meaning to our suffering and eventually works out a way of escape.

“God’s word is a medicine cabinet! It has prescriptions for all conditions…Believer to take their suffering to God in prayer…Singing praises to God is a noble way for believers to celebrate.

There is a quick caveat on this before looking at the other condition. When James asked those who are suffering to pray, we assume that the focus was those experiencing undeserved treatment. There is nowhere prayer is recommended as a cure for all wrongdoing; unless, of course, you are talking of repentance prayer. There is no credit for suffering consequences of sinful lifestyle. When you suffer on account of your faith in God, there is a great reward. Now, James recognised that there could be those who have good fortune smiling on them and would like to celebrate. He recommended that they should sing psalms. Singing praises to God is a noble way for believers to celebrate.