5 Minute Read
Prepare Your Heart
To the best of your ability, get rid of all distractions. Take a few minutes to breathe deeply and quiet yourself in the Lord’s presence. Then, ask the Lord to speak to you in this time. Let Him know that you will listen and make whatever adjustments He will reveal to you.
Read God’s Word
A Verse for Today
Slowly and reflectively read the following verse(s) and listen to what God will say to you through His written Word. Consider writing down any insights He reveals to you.
James 1:2-4 (CSB): “Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.”
Reflecting on God’s Word
What would you think of someone who told you, “Be overjoyed when life falls apart!” Wouldn’t you think they are nuts? You might even think they may have sadistic tendencies, because they clearly like pain!
James DID say to be happy when life falls apart. But he didn’t end there. He said that his readers (us) could find some happiness in the very midst of trials.
Here it is again. See if you can discover James’s reason for encouraging people to be happy when life gets hard.
James 1:2-4 (CSB): “Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.”
The joy wasn’t to be found in the trial. Instead, the happiness lay in what the trial could produce.
Here’s an illustration of how it works. If we could be transported back to the beginning of 2021, I had slipped out of my running habit (knee trouble), and I looked in the mirror and saw an overweight, out-of-shape 50-year-old. To add insult to injury, I was losing hair on the top of my head. I hated what I saw: an old, balding tub of lard!
What should I have done about what I saw? (Yes, I tried hair products for a while.) I purchased a used TotalGym, set it up in my garage, and started working out. Then, I got a gym membership. I created a workout plan that put me in the gym 3-5 days each week. I was embarrassed when I first started because I was bench pressing only 130 lbs or so. But I kept doing the hard thing. I kept showing up to the gym and progressively lifting more weights. On January 27, 2025, just ten months ago, I benched 310 lbs! That’s my record, and I’m not sure I will ever beat it!
I’m still struggling to lose excess weight, but I’m stronger than I’ve ever been at 55 years old!
How did I get from being bald, overweight, and flabby to bald, overweight, and fit? I did very hard things. I worked out when I didn’t want to. I worked out with progressively heavier weights when other guys my age would never think of going to the gym.
It was doing the very hard things that gave me the opportunity to achieve incredibly positive results!
That’s what James is saying! Do you want to get to a place in your life where things that used to get you down no longer bother you? Do you want to get to a level of spiritual maturity that you can only imagine? Then get ready to hit life’s “gym.” Get ready for God to send you into seasons where you will do hard things as you trust in Him. But those hard things, if you don’t settle into anger or resentment, can be used by God to make you into the Jesus-follower that you’ve always wanted to be.
James 1:2-4 (CSB): “Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.”
One thing I have observed in my life is that the people who seem much more spiritually mature than the average Christian have been through some dark nights of the soul. You don’t grow unless you have been through difficult times and cooperated with God on what He wanted to cultivate in your life.
So, when life gets tough, don’t waste your time wondering if God still loves you or questioning the injustice of it all. Instead, realize that He’s taking you into life’s gym and desires to grow you into the mature Christian that both He and you desire for you to be.
That, my friend, is the reason you can rejoice when life gets hard. You don’t rejoice in the trial. Instead, you rejoice in what God will do in you through the trial.
Spend Time in Prayer
- Ask God to give you a new perspective when life gets hard.
- Ask God to help you to work with Him, not against Him, when troubles come your way.
Going Deeper
If you want to dig a little deeper into James 1:2-4, consider reading the following GotQuestions article:
“What does it mean to count it all joy (James 1:2)?”
Sharing
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Matt Ellis is the pastor of White Hall Baptist Church in Richmond, Kentucky (whitehallbaptistchurch.org)
Matt’s Musings 