The Joy Of Trials Series

THE JOY OF TRIALS

Let me share with you the different ways our text is translated to give you a broad view of what we are dealing with. First, we will look at some of the context of the verse.

JAMES 1:2-4, "2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, [a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

New Living Translation

Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.

English Standard Version

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,

Berean Standard Bible

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you encounter trials of many kinds,

Berean Literal Bible

Esteem it all joy, my brothers, when you might fall into various trials,

King James Bible

My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into diver's temptations.

Good News Translation

My friends, consider yourselves fortunate when all kinds of trials come your way,

The Pulpit Commentary calls this verse THE STRANGE PARADOX, and truly they are right, for what can be more paradoxical than being happy about the things that make you sad? Paul backs up James by writing in Romans 5:3, "Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance." Then Peter joins this support group with these words in 1 Peter 1:6, "In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials." These godly men are constantly linking joy with trials, and that is what we call paradoxical thinking. This means we need to change our minds about how we react to the negatives that come into our lives and produce trials of all kinds. By nature, we feel negative about trials, and don't even consider rejoicing over them. It seems to us that we must endure them with sadness rather than gladness. But we are wrong, and we need to change our perspective and see the trials of life as opportunities that will lead to joyful conclusions. That is what the Word of God is trying to convince every believer when they face trials. This is no time to frown and be down, but a time to rise up and rejoice in the choice to be delighted in this chance to grow in the joy that God wills for us to have.

If life is too easy you tend to relax and become satisfied with who and what you are. If life gets hard and challenging, you must battle upward and become stronger and wiser as you climb. The trials make you a better person. Jesus made it clear that the paradox of joy is real, and trials can be a blessing. He said, "Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." If you never have any trials, you will cease to grow, and so join the always joyful group and be joyful in your trials. The great Alexander Maclaren wrote, "This paradox of Christian experience has seemed so startling that the future tense has been proposed as the true rendering; but a much deeper and grander sense results from adhering to the present tense. It is possible that joy should live side by side in the same heart with sorrow, and neither converting the other wholly into its own substance, and each made more noble by the presence of its opposite. "Central peace" may "subsist at the heart or' endless agitation." Greek fire will burn under water. Flowers bloom on the glacier's edge. The depths of the sea are still, while winds rave, and waves heave and currents race above. In the darkest night of sorrow and loss, starry and immortal hopes will brighten in our sky, and the heart that is united to Christ will have an inward solemn blessedness which no tempest of sorrow can extinguish." He goes on, "...the true nature and purpose of all sorrow. It is temptation, or, more properly, trial. It is intended as a test, a proof, to reveal us to ourselves and so to better us. We do not get to the bottom of our sorrows till we look at the moral purpose which they serve, and regard them as discipline rather than pain. They take a shallow view who contemplate only the smart of the wound and leave out of sight the surgeon's purpose. They take as shallow a view who dispute or deny the benefit of sorrow and assert that happiness tends to a sweeter virtue than it does. There is a lowly self-distrust quickly passing into calm faith which only sorrow can produce. The will is never bowed into submission without being softened in the furnace, and there is no real goodness but from a submissive will. The props round which the heart twines its tendrils have to be cut down, that it may fasten itself on the only true support. Only when we have nothing else to lean on do we lean all our weight on him." Paul sums it up in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, …16Therefore we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, yet our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17For our light and momentary affliction is producing for us an eternal glory that is far beyond comparison. 18So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.…" He sums it up even quicker in Phil. 4:4, "Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I will say, rejoice." Always means even in times of trial. Any time you are not rejoicing in the Lord you are out of His will and need to start looking at life with a joyful perspective. "…give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."1 Thessalonians 5:18.