“My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials” James 1:2
People in this world have all kinds of ways in which they deal with the “various trials” that come into their lives. Some are overwhelmed and become discouraged and depressed. Others pride themselves in their ability to keep a “stiff upper lip” in the midst of difficulty, not wanting anyone to see them as being weak.
In our verse, James instructed God’s people to do something radically different in the midst of trials. He wrote that we’re to “count it all joy!” Is he saying we should simply ignore these troubles, or worse yet, is he suggesting we should find some kind of pleasure in suffering in and of itself? Of course not! Look closely and see that he followed that statement with, “knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance” (verse 3).
The Christian’s joy in trials therefore, is not in the suffering by itself, but in the wonderful result which in this passage is for the building up of our endurance in the faith. Each trial helps the Christian to be more confident in God’s promises, His power, His wisdom, His love and His ultimate deliverances. In this way we learn to trust Him utterly, and not ourselves. In Proverbs we read, “Trust in the Lord with all your Heart, and lean not on your own understanding: in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths” (3:5-6). And God helps us to be obedient in this through the experience of trials in which we are compelled to trust Him. In this way we also become a help to our brothers and sisters who are experiencing similar trials such that “we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2 Corinthians 1:4).
The Apostle Peter wrote regarding “fiery” trials that we’re to “rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy” (1 Peter 4:13). For a Christian to “partake of Christ’s sufferings” in trials means to suffer with Him, and should therefore be considered a great honor worthy of “exceeding joy.” Further, we’re promised that “if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him” (Romans 6:8). Therefore, to partake of Christ’s sufferings in this life, is a pledge and guarantee that we’ll partake with Him of His glory when He comes again! Is not this sharing in the fruits of His sufferings a cause for “exceeding joy?”
In his letter to the Romans, Paul put our sufferings into their proper perspective by writing, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (8:18). He also wrote, “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Corinthians 4:16-17, italics mine). As such, he’s saying that our troubles actually work to our advantage in that they achieve for us an eternal weight of glory! Is it any wonder that James would teach the early New Testament church to not be discouraged by troubles, but to welcome them and to “count it all joy when you fall into various trials?”
So what stands in the way of our joy in the midst of trials? Is it not true that most of our discouragements and complaints in trials come because we’re mostly preoccupied with ourselves? We think of “my health”, “my money”, “my time”, “my comfort”, my security”, “my goals”, my…. When that happens, we’ve lost sight of the big picture of what God is not only doing in our lives, but in the whole course of human events. True Christians can be assured that “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved” (Ephesians 1:4-6). This means that God’s great enterprise in the course of human history is to call out of this fallen world a people for Himself that He might be our God and dwell among us in the new heavens and earth forever. This greatest of endeavors in this world required the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ such that “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace’ (Ephesians 1:7). And those who receive these blessings of Christ’s sufferings through faith and repentance become “Children of God, and if children, then heirs - heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together” (Romans 8:17).
People in this world have all kinds of ways in which they deal with the “various trials” that come into their lives. Some are overwhelmed and become discouraged and depressed. Others pride themselves in their ability to keep a “stiff upper lip” in the midst of difficulty, not wanting anyone to see them as being weak.
In our verse, James instructed God’s people to do something radically different in the midst of trials. He wrote that we’re to “count it all joy!” Is he saying we should simply ignore these troubles, or worse yet, is he suggesting we should find some kind of pleasure in suffering in and of itself? Of course not! Look closely and see that he followed that statement with, “knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance” (verse 3).
The Christian’s joy in trials therefore, is not in the suffering by itself, but in the wonderful result which in this passage is for the building up of our endurance in the faith. Each trial helps the Christian to be more confident in God’s promises, His power, His wisdom, His love and His ultimate deliverances. In this way we learn to trust Him utterly, and not ourselves. In Proverbs we read, “Trust in the Lord with all your Heart, and lean not on your own understanding: in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths” (3:5-6). And God helps us to be obedient in this through the experience of trials in which we are compelled to trust Him. In this way we also become a help to our brothers and sisters who are experiencing similar trials such that “we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2 Corinthians 1:4).
The Apostle Peter wrote regarding “fiery” trials that we’re to “rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy” (1 Peter 4:13). For a Christian to “partake of Christ’s sufferings” in trials means to suffer with Him, and should therefore be considered a great honor worthy of “exceeding joy.” Further, we’re promised that “if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him” (Romans 6:8). Therefore, to partake of Christ’s sufferings in this life, is a pledge and guarantee that we’ll partake with Him of His glory when He comes again! Is not this sharing in the fruits of His sufferings a cause for “exceeding joy?”
In his letter to the Romans, Paul put our sufferings into their proper perspective by writing, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (8:18). He also wrote, “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Corinthians 4:16-17, italics mine). As such, he’s saying that our troubles actually work to our advantage in that they achieve for us an eternal weight of glory! Is it any wonder that James would teach the early New Testament church to not be discouraged by troubles, but to welcome them and to “count it all joy when you fall into various trials?”
So what stands in the way of our joy in the midst of trials? Is it not true that most of our discouragements and complaints in trials come because we’re mostly preoccupied with ourselves? We think of “my health”, “my money”, “my time”, “my comfort”, my security”, “my goals”, my…. When that happens, we’ve lost sight of the big picture of what God is not only doing in our lives, but in the whole course of human events. True Christians can be assured that “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved” (Ephesians 1:4-6). This means that God’s great enterprise in the course of human history is to call out of this fallen world a people for Himself that He might be our God and dwell among us in the new heavens and earth forever. This greatest of endeavors in this world required the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ such that “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace’ (Ephesians 1:7). And those who receive these blessings of Christ’s sufferings through faith and repentance become “Children of God, and if children, then heirs - heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together” (Romans 8:17).