by Josh Puuri
Trials in life are easy opportunities for us to allow worry or angst to guide our actions and attitudes, but James encourages us to be guided by spiritual joy when experiencing trials:
James 1:2-3 “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.”
Here are three reasons for us to have spiritual joy in seasons of trial…
Trials produce steadfastness. In the life of the believer, steadfastness leads to increased holiness through each trial. And over time, the believer will find themselves confidently weathering each trial as they await a day where afflictions are no more:
2 Corinthians 4:17-18 — “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”
Trials show us who or what our faith is in. When the trial or storm comes, the object of our faith, what we are placing our hope in, will be confirmed. For the believer, the “house” will remain standing as it is fixed on Christ, the solid Rock:
Luke 6:47-48 — “Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built.”
Trials remind us of Jesus’ power. In one of the greatest physical storms of their lives, the disciples marveled at Jesus as he rebuked the storm. They said, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?” That same Savior is with us in the storms of our lives:
Psalm 73:25-26 — “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
We will experience trials in this life —that is promised for the Christian— but they don’t need to be a cause for us to worry or despair. As we go about our week, let us be encouraged that His grace is sufficient for each of us, that He gives us the ability to have joy in life’s trials.
