By: Lynette Bloedow
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. James 1: 2-3.
In the last few months, it has been challenging to have faith… to trust God when He seems far away. Being bedridden does that to you. Having unrelenting pain does that to you.
Your way seems dark especially when the medical establishment is stumped and there seems to be no answers. But James tells us to ‘count it all joy’ when you meet various trials.
But what is joy? Is it a ‘happy-clappy’ feeling? No. It is the ability to be positive in the face of dark trials. Merriam Webster defines it as, the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires. That last phrase says ‘hope’.
Joy is forward-looking. It’s ‘already, but not yet’. It is a positive expectation. It is hope in the darkest of days. But that hope can only come from Jesus Christ. It comes from claiming God’s promises. But you can’t claim a promise if you do not know of its existence.
You must KNOW God’s promises to claim them.
Knowing God’s promises comes from reading His Word daily, memorizing it and meditating on it. The Psalmist encourages us to ‘hide them in our hearts.’
One promise that helps me during those times is the promise from Romans 5: 3-5, which says, ‘… but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame…’
The three words that I think about are rejoice, endurance, and hope. I love the King James version I learned as a child, which says, ‘hope does not disappoint.’
So, if we were to rewrite James’ encouragement to ‘count it all joy’, it would look like this: When you face any trials, have a joyful attitude (rejoice) as if you are expecting your desires to be fulfilled. Your faith is being tested so that you will become resolute and purposeful (endurance). That way, you develop character and (hope). And hope does not disappoint.
In the midst of the trial, I repeat that Scripture verse, and others, to help me rise above the feelings of self-pity, to have a ‘joyful’ attitude. Pain is the most self-centered experience you can ever have. All you think about is yourself and the kind of pain that I call ‘in-your-face’ pain. There is no escape.
But I think of God’s character being formed in me if I patiently endure. I expect God to restore me, and therefore I have hope which does not disappoint. I pray fervently, quoting God’s Word back to Him.
I also think of verses like, Proverbs 13:12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life, or Psalm 30:5 Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.
So, count it all joy, brothers and sisters, when you meet trials of many kinds.
