Main Scripture: Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-4
To the outsider who hears the words of James, telling someone to consider it “joy” when they go through trials and tribulations seems backwards or counterproductive. Many in the world don’t see the logic in taking joy or feeling happy about going through suffering or struggling. But when we talk about joy, we aren’t celebrating what happened to us, we have joy because the trials and tribulations come with the salvation in Christ Jesus.
As Christians, we are not promised a life without persecutions and without trials. There are no verses in the Bible that tell us that we wouldn’t have to go through some things. We go through things, and sometimes, we inflict things on ourselves. But the joy even in these trials comes from the fact that God’s word tells us in Romans 8:28 that “…all things work together for the good of those that love him, who have been called according to His purpose.” We may not understand that purpose, and we may not understand how our trials will benefit us right now. And here’s the thing: We are not supposed to! Isaiah 55:8-9 read “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” That tells me that even though I don’t understand why I’m going through some of the things that I am, I know that the end result is going to be for my benefit. The end result is going to make me a stronger Christian, and it’s going to cement my faith in Him. And remember, the Word tells us in Proverbs 3:5 to “Trust in the Lord will all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” My pastor taught that the best way to apply this scripture in real life was to look at your trials and tribulations this way: Instead of asking “Lord, why me”, ask “Lord, what can I do to give You the glory?” When you do that, you are showing the measure of faith that God has given all of us, and you are already proclaiming the victory. Instead of looking down about your situation, you have already begun to look up by asking “Lord, how can I use this situation to give you the glory?” The situation that you’re going through could be the testimony that someone else needs to hear! If you trust in the Lord, the trials that you go through will make you a more powerful witness to God’s glory, and it that trust will allow God to work with you through the situations.
Something else that was taught to us was how Events + Response = Outcome. More often than not, how we respond to a situation will determine how strong our faith is, and how we will handle our obstacles. How we respond is going to make the difference between experiencing a breakthrough, or experiencing a breakdown. If we succumb to the situation and give up hope, then we have lost, and we have given the Enemy the victory. But through our faith, and through the power of the blood of the Lamb, we can respond with boldness and with confidence! We can sing praises to the most High God, even in the deepest pit of our despair. For example, look at Paul and Silas in the Book of Acts. Paul and Silas were stripped and beaten, and then they were thrown in prison. Instead of wallowing in self-pity, they began to pray and sing praises and hymns to God! And when you read the story in Acts 16, you’ll see that while they were praying and singing, an earthquake occurred that shook the very foundation of the prison, and the doors of the prison flew open and the chains on these prisoners fell off! Rather than respond by feeling sorry about their imprisonment and wallowing in misery, they chose that moment to lift up the name of the Lord! They didn’t try to understand why they were imprisoned, but they gave praise to God, and God responded by shaking the place up. But the response doesn’t end there!
The prison guard saw what happened, and he thought that the prisoners had escaped. Just as he was about to kill himself, Paul told him that they were still there. So, rather than ESCAPE, Paul responded to the situation by staying put. The guard saw what happened and said “What must I do to be saved?” Paul told him to believe in the Lord Jesus, and he’ll be saved. Afterwards, the jailer’s family was all saved and baptized. So we see clearly that when we respond according to our faith, and not what’s convenient for us, or what’s comfortable for us, or what’s easiest for us, God will move in a mighty way. When we respond according to God’s will for our lives, God moves not just through us, but for all of those around us! If Paul and Silas had escaped (and it had to have been tempting for them to do so), the guard would’ve killed himself, and denied his family the opportunity for salvation! This is the kind of joy that adverse circumstances can bring about! This jailer bore witness to God’s miraculous powers, and he accepted the Lord into his life, because he saw how God moved on behalf of Paul and Silas! God was able to get the glory not just from causing the earthquake and breaking the chains, but by having Paul and Silas stay in the jail to witness to the jailer! The scripture tells us on numerous occasions that the very gates of heaven rejoice at man’s salvation. Rather than look down at their situation and lose hope, Paul and Silas continued to have the joy that is in Christ Jesus, and through that joy, they were able to sing and to pray and God was able to move on their behalf, to the point where their very captor became a believer!
Isn’t that how God wants us to be with our obstacles? We can have joy BECAUSE of our circumstances, and we can still have joy IN SPITE OF our circumstances. We serve a God that is good no matter what we’re going through, no matter what obstacles we face, no matter how we put ourselves into perilous situations. We serve a God whose grace and mercy endures forever, and we serve a God that will never leave us or forsake us. And when we RESPOND to the EVENTS in our lives with joy, praise, worship, and prayer, we can guarantee a RESPONSE that will give God all the glory! And James tells us in the scripture that I read earlier that we are to consider it a joy when we face different kinds of trials and tribulations. 1 Peter 1:6-7 says “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” Peter tells us in previous verses that we rejoice because of the new birth into a living hope, and because of the heavenly inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade.
We can look through all sorts of Biblical examples of men and women of God responding positively to trials and tribulations, and we can read about how God was given the glory. But equally as important, we can look at our own lives and demonstrate how our problems became our pulpit! We can look at our own lives and talk about how we had a tough situation to deal with, and how we’ve given God the glory for giving us the breakthrough, and how he continues to see us through. All of us have a testimony about how we’ve overcome a trial, and how God saw us through a situation. All of us have examples of how God works with us through our circumstances!
Something else that’s important to understand is that no matter what we are going through, God wants us to prosper, God wants us to excel, God wants us to be in joyful expectation of the blessings that He has in store for us! And sometimes, we have to go through some things that will make us stronger in His kingdom, and help us to become more equipped to fight the good fight, and to be effective witnessing tools for others. If we go back to 1 Peter 1:6-7, we see that the trials that we face are tools that will refine us, that will make us stronger. Iron is made stronger by constant, blistering heat and pounding by hammers. Without this arduous process, the resulting iron would not be as strong as it needs to be. Silver and gold go through intense refining processes before the end result of a beautiful and brilliant end product. Malachi 3:3 says that the Lord will “sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver.” The things that we go through allows God to remove the impurities in us, as we continue to seek His kingdom. This is essential as we strive for perfection in Him, and sometimes, we have to go through some rough things to remove the things that keep us from Him. Also, in Jeremiah 29:11, the Word says “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Remember, “in ALL things, God works for the good of those who love him and are called according to His purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” Even though we may not understand what’s happening, we can rest assured that God knows, and that it’s working to our benefit. It’s working to purify us. It’s working to perfect us. It’s working to remove the things that are not like Him, the things that keep us from achieving and reaching higher heights and deeper depths of worship. This purification process will give us the tools that we need to move from milk to meat, and it will help us to break the habits that sometimes lead us into getting into these circumstances. You see, sometimes, we blame the devil for things that are our own faults: The devil turned my lights off, the devil cut off my phone, the devil got my car repossessed. That’s not the devil, that’s our own bad habits! That’s our own lack of discipline! And as we go through the refining process, the purification process, the strengthening process of these trials and tribulations, we begin to examine ourselves and see what WE need to remove in order to move to that next level. So sometimes, the answer to the question of “How can God get the glory from this situation” could be that this trial gives us the chance to remove things from our lives that serves as distractions. And when we remove those distractions, we can continue to give God the glory!
Romans 5:1-5 says “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.” We can look up because our trials and tribulations work towards our benefit, no matter how they look while we’re going through them.
Because of this, we can imitate Paul and Silas, and rejoice even in the midst of our circumstances. We can still seek His joy, even as we climb from the pit to the palace. We can thank God, even as the solution to our trials may not be readily apparent. We may have to cry sometimes, but when we cry OUT, and lay out before the Throne, we can bring forth the morning that the Word talks about. Remember, the Word says “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning”! We aren’t defined by our circumstances, by the debt that we may be in, by our job, or whatever. We are defined by our Creator, and the love that He has for us! Even in the midst of our circumstances, who we are in Christ should not change, and we should continue to give God the praise.
Psalm 121:1-2 say “I lift up my eyes to the hills -- where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.” We don’t have to hang our heads down, when we can look to the hills, from which comes our help! We don’t need to look down at our feet and mope about our trials and circumstances. We can hold our heads up, and we can boldly proclaim the victory, because we know where our help is coming from! We know that we have the victory! We know that we still have our joy! God is our provider, He is our strength, He is our joy! We rejoice because we have salvation! We can stand on the promises of God, and we can hold our heads up! We don’t have to look down and get despondent when we go through these trials, because the end result is going to be a beauty to behold.
What we also need to understand is that when we trust in God, that trust should be complete! We can’t say that we trust God, and then look at our watch as to when the trials and tribulations are to be over. 2 Peter 3:9 says “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” We read earlier how God’s ways are not our ways, and his thoughts are not our thoughts. We also know that time as WE know it is a man-made construct, but we serve a God that is above these constraints. Psalm 27:14 says “wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” And because of God’s promise, we know that even though we are going through our trials, we can’t let the enemy steal our joy. When we get so wrapped up in our trials, and when we lose hope, we give the enemy a foothold into our spirit, and we allow him to replace our faith with fear. The Word tells us that the enemy comes to kill, to steal, and to destroy, and he uses our trials as an opportunity to start taking from us. But it’s up to us to prevent that from happening. It’s up to us to guard our hearts, and it’s up to us to stay strong. It’s up to us to lean on the Lord, and depend on Him.
We can’t let discouragement or doubt plant seeds in our minds. If we do, then those doubts and discouraging thoughts begin to spring up like weeds to choke the Word that’s been planted in our hearts.
Just as God delivered the ram in the bush to Abraham, he’ll deliver you to your breakthrough. Just as God protected Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego in the fiery furnace, and as he protected Daniel in the lion’s den, he’ll protect us! Just as he made a way for the children of Israel, he’ll make a way for you. Just as God gave David, Joshua, Gideon, and many others, the tools and everything to prepare for warfare, he’ll give us the provisions that we need to engage in spiritual warfare. And above it all, God has given us the comforter in the Holy Spirit to see us through and to guide us into all truths.
In closing, we all have to deal with trials and tribulations. The difference comes in how we handle these trials, and how we respond. It’s up to us to remember to give thanks to God in all of our circumstances, even those that are challenges for us. It’s up to us to remember the joy that can be found even amidst the trials and tribulations, and it’s up to us to remember that even in our worst times, there is an opportunity to give God the glory, and a chance to use the situation as a tool to witness to others. As children of God, we can still have our joy regardless of what goes on around us, and as long we remain obedient to Him, we can maintain that joy in looking up when things look down.
