Count it all joy?

Why would the writer James utter the above statement? The statement actually reads, "Count it all joy when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience or endurance" (James 1:2). The word count means to consider. The writer James is not saying that tests are joy. They are not, they are painful. And truth be told, none of us want trials in our lives at all. James said to consider them joy because of what trials produce in us, patience or endurance which is a fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22). 

This type of attitude requires a laser focus on God and the truth of his word. If we are to discover that our faith is genuine, it has to be put to the test. The way God has decided to do that is through challenges in our lives. The archetype of the one who was righteous and suffered greatly in the Old Testament was Job. Job lost everything. He became so destitute and despaired of life that he cursed the day of his birth and wished he had never been born (Job 3). Yet Job testified, "Though he (God) slay me yet will I trust him" (Job 13:15). 

The life of Jesus as a suffering servant

About 700 years before the birth of Christ Isaiah the prophet said this about the Messiah, "He was despised and rejected and forsaken by men. A man of sorrows and pains, and acquainted with grief and sickness; and like one from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we did not appreciate His worth or have any esteem for Him (Isaiah 53:3). In the tenth verse of this chapter, it tells us that it pleased the Lord to bruise Christ (Isaiah 53:10). 

Hebrews 12:2 tells us that we are to fix our eyes on Jesus who is the author and finisher of our faith. About Him it says that for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of  God. Now, what was the joy set before Jesus? It has to be two things: 1) fulfilling the Father's will. 2) Redeeming all those the Father gave to Him to come and save. The second point is a subset of the first one.

What this tells me is that our suffering must have an end game, an exit strategy. We should not be suffering for nothing. In other words, we should not be suffering for doing evil, but for doing good; therein lies the joy. Knowing that our suffering for righteousness is NEVER in vain! It is also essential that we pass the test(s) that we are going through so that they do not lead us to temptation and to sin. 

So, when you are going through your trials, that is the perfect time to examine your life and ask yourself, "Am I in or out of the will of God?" If you are out of the will of God, then repent immediately. If you are in the will of God, then pray and endure the fiery trial. Although it is painful, and you want it over, do not give up for God will see you through. He is pressing you so that your faith in Him will strengthen and you can count it all joy.

Final thought: "No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it" (1 Corinthians 10:13).