Joy in Suffering

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Joy amid Trials

James 1:1-8

“Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.”

                  Trials and adversity are never enjoyable.  It is easy to become discouraged and disheartened when facing life struggles, especially when it seems endless.  We can endure adversity when it is temporary and short-lived, but despair sets in when it drags on with no end in sight.  We begin to doubt God and his plan for us.  We wrestle with how a good God can allow bad things to happen to good people.  Throughout the history of the Bible, we find that those most undeserving often faced the most significant amount of adversity.  Job suffered the loss of all his wealth.  However, wealth can be replaced, but the ultimate tragedy was the death of his children.  As a result, he questioned God’s goodness and love.  How could a good God allow evil to happen to His people?  Jeremiah was delighted when God called him to be His prophet.  However, his joy soon turned to sorrow, bitterness, and frustration as he experienced rejection and persecution. 

                  This is what makes James’ statement so shocking.  Not only does he encourage us to remain steadfast in our faith during times of adversity, he encourages us to rejoice in the midst of them.  How can we rejoice when going through the throes of life-threatening cancer?  How can we find joy when there seems to be no end, and the outcome remains uncertain and foreboding?

                  James gives us a different perspective.  He does not encourage us to rejoice in our suffering.  A person who takes pleasure in pain is considered to be mentally and emotionally unstable.  This is hardly what James is encouraging. Instead, he enables us to rejoice because of the outcome and effect of trials.  Instead of trials threatening our spiritual health, they become the avenue we attain spiritual stability and strength.  When we suffer because of our faith, we identify with Christ, and it further strengthens our faith as we realize God’s grace and empowerment in our lives.  For Paul, suffering was not a contradiction in our faith. Instead, it was the outgrowth of our faith as we became partakers of the suffering of Christ.   If we are to share in His glory, we must also share in His suffering (Romans 8:17).  It is through our suffering that our faith is strengthened, for it teaches us endurance.  Endurance is the power to withstand hardship and remain steadfast in our faith in Christ.  The more we face trials, the stronger our faith becomes as we learn to trust in God despite our circumstances.  Trials are the spiritual exercises that strengthen our spiritual muscles.  Just as physical strength comes through the training and straining of muscles to build muscle mass, our challenges strengthen our spiritual muscles. Our joy is not found in the suffering but in the realization that suffering is not arbitrary or destructive in our spiritual life. Instead, it is how God strengthens our faith by revealing Himself to us.  This is sometimes difficult to understand when we are in pain.  Therefore, we must ask for wisdom amid trials to understand and see God’s work in us.  Through the wisdom that comes from God, we can know how our trials are part of God’s plan for our lives to strengthen our faith.  Wisdom enables us to see beyond the circumstances to see the unseen hand of God working in our lives.  

                  When we experience difficulties in life, it is easy to become fixated on the problem and the circumstances we face. James challenges us to look beyond the struggle and trust in God’s plan, which works during our trials to bring us to spiritual maturity. When we see God’s purpose in our circumstances, we can rejoice even in the most challenging circumstances. 

                  

 

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