"My
brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces
patience."
James 1:2-3
Verses like these demonstrate how profound our need is for God's word, for God's ways are often a stark contrast to our expectations and reactions. Even though Christians have been born again by faith in Jesus and filled with the Holy Spirit, when we face trials and tribulations we see them as foreign intruders rather than friendly visitors (1 Peter 4:12-13). Various trials are not in themselves good, yet the child of God can rest knowing God is able to redeem and use them all for good. He can take troubling, pressure-packed circumstances to exercise our faith and work to make us more like Him.
As the beloved family of God we can be joyful in the midst of various trials, and James explained one purpose of trials God allows: the testing of our faith produces patience. Blessed are those who endure by faith in Jesus without losing heart. Patience, we are told by the apostle Paul in Galatians 5, is a fruit of the Holy Spirit who indwells us. Experiencing trials, coupled with presence of the Holy Spirit, produces patience when we obey God to count it all joy. I think it was Alan Redpath who connected our personal spiritual growth with our obedience to God in a sermon, and this is true. Knowing what is right is not as important as doing what is right for the right reasons--in joyful obedience to God.
It is instructive that James says, "count it all joy" because our joy is not to be based on how we feel about things, something subjective. We could call it Christian maths, a thought process as simple and straightforward as adding and subtracting whole numbers. When we fall into various trials--tests that challenge us, difficulties that trouble us--we are to count it all joy. Through the lens of God's word, we can view trials like when a corporate executive is pleased to receive a monetary bonus for meeting benchmarks that will boost his savings or allow him to afford travel. Patience and wisdom for a Christian are not like a dream holiday that never eventuates, for trials are a vehicle God uses to help our lives produce these good, godly qualities.
The testing of our faith is more than an one-off exam we pass or fail but are tests designed by God that put our faith under stress to strengthen it through exercise. No one can avoid the trials God allows, but we can count it all joy facing them knowing the testing of our faith produces patience. If we do not count it all joy, it may be we are content with our current low-level of patience rather than trusting God has better plans in mind so we might grow. If I could only grasp that the way I go through a trial impacts the lasting end result of a trial, that the redemptive aspects are bettered by my exercise of faith by obedience or hindered by my refusal to trust God to count it all joy knowing God is determined to produce patience in my life.
I have heard people quip (in jest) that praying for patience is an invitation to fall into various trials, and thus one ought to think carefully in praying that. This is a foolish notion and a bad joke. Consider what the next verse says in James 1:4: "But let
patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete,
lacking nothing." Those who shrink from trials that produce patience in our lives will continue to lack what God promises to supply by His grace. God's plan is for us to be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. Isn't that what we want for our lives--what God wants? Since that is the case, let us learn to count it all joy to fall into various trials, for the testing of our faith produces patience which labours within us perfectly to make us perfect and complete, lacking nothing. Isn't it amazing God uses various trials we hate and would rather avoid at any cost to provide us patience beyond price?