Rightly Responding to Suffering: Be Joyful in Your Trials
How do we rightly respond to suffering?
This is the first post in a fivefold series to teach us a powerful truth from James 1:2–18:
As you face overwhelming trials, responding with an attitude of joy will only be possible by a correct perspective of your faith in God.
Quickly summarizing James 1:2–18, James teaches us to have intense joy in the midst of trials (James 1:2) because of a correct perspective of faith in what God is doing through the trials (James 1:3–4). James teaches us how we can do this by showing us what not to do and what do:
- don’t be disgusted when you don’t understand; ask God for wisdom (James 1:5–8),
- don’t be discouraged over lowly circumstances; focus on your eternal high position in Christ (James 1:9–12),
- don’t doubt God; remain confident in Him as the giver of every perfect gift (James 1:13–18).
To begin our series, we will focus on James 1:2, which teaches us that we must to have intense joy in the midst of trials.
I can remember sitting in one of Dr. Randy Jaeggli’s classes (Prophets) during my junior year of college. He took the time for an aside to exhort us that our faith was sure to be challenged. And those challenges would prove our faith. I took what he said to heart, not knowing that in the next year I would be diagnosed with an irreversible, progressive muscle disease.
The summer between my junior and senior years of college, a physical therapist informed me that my problems were not due to sports injuries. I had a muscle disease. I ended up sitting out the first semester of my senior year. Since someone had given me an Inductive Study Bible, I decided that I should use my extra time to jump into a deeper study of the Bible in the face of my trial. I started with James 1. And that passage has become the foundational passage for my life in dealing with overwhelming trials. I hope that what I’ve learned from this passage can be a help to others.
In the face of having your world turned upside down by an overwhelming trial, the command in James 1:2 may seem shocking: “Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations.” Joy? All Joy? This trial? How is that even possible? Why would I be commanded to feel something seemingly so unnatural? In the next few blog posts, I’d like to unfold the following proposition from James 1:2-18: as you face overwhelming trials, responding with an attitude of joy will only be possible by a correct perspective of your faith in God.
The Command: What You Must Do (James 1:2)
Let’s examine James 1:2 phrase by phrase:
“Count it”: This phrase has to do with your perspective on what it is that has happened. You are commanded to think about, consider it over, and come to a conclusion to have a particular mindset and response to what has happened.
“All joy”: Certainly, trials bring tears. The Bible does not condemn grief or call on us to deny reality (John 11:35; 1 Pet 1:6). The word “all” does not refer to exclusive joy; rather, it is an intensifying word. We are to have an intense joy. But what is joy? It is not giddy happiness. Rather, it is a settled satisfaction and delight in God. We are commanded to have a perspective that delights in God.
“When you fall into divers temptations”: Trials bring with them temptations to respond in right or wrong ways. Thus, the words temptations and trials can be used interchangeably depending on the context. And James uses this play on words in this chapter in both senses. The kinds of trials one may face can be diverse. Whatever it is that you may be facing qualifies for this command. There is no trial that is bad enough or unique enough to sidestep the command to have a perspective of intense delight in God even in the face of this trial.
The theme of the Book of James can be summarized as “Tests of a Living Faith.” James was writing to a first century audience that was being dispersed by persecution. Many new believers were possibly losing relationships with their kinsman, losing property and homes, and losing vocations. They were facing physical threats and certainly spiritual warfare. The trials they faced were multifaceted and intense. And yet James’ exhortation is no less intense: Count it all joy. Why? How? We’ll look at James’ answers to these questions in upcoming posts.
Kevin Collins has served as a junior high youth leader in Michigan, a missionary in Singapore, a Christian School teacher in Utah, and a Bible writer for the BJU Press. He currently works for American Church Group of South Carolina.
This post is part 1 of 5 in a series on suffering.
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