Have you ever thought about Joy and Pain mixed together?

Maybe you think like me, you might ask how could the two possibly coexist as one. Looking at James 1:2 it reads: “my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trails, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience”.

I believe learning to have joy in the mist of our pain is one of the hardest lessons we could possibly ever learn but we are instructed to count it all joy when we enter into suffering and affliction.

What does it really mean when he says, “count it all joy”? I think we are to consider what we are going through as a matter of joy, not because we gain pleasure from it, but because our trials are suppose to work patience within us. As hard as it is to accept there is at least one good thing happening to us in the midst of pain and suffering and therefore we are called to think about our circumstances with respect of believing for the good that is to come.

Our suffering is not an exercise that we get up and have to perform a workout session everyday like we would do at the gym. God has a purpose, and it will always be good. We can count all things joy because God is working in all situations, even in the most painful ones.

Sometimes I think in order for us to count our earthly conflicts a joy, we have to consider the future. Sometimes our hope as a christian gets persecuted, we are mocked by those whose lives are not lived with hope. When we are filled with grief, we have to be able to look to the future, look towards heaven, to find the joy that can ease our pain. Our joy must be based on looking to God and to the inheritance we will receive in heaven.

This is exactly what Jesus did. Although, I can’t imagine it was easy by any means Him going to the cross for us, but yet He endured it, because He knew God had a plan. This is what we must realize, the suffering we endure in this life cannot compare with the joy that is laid up for us in heaven.

But in the moment, when we are in the midst of the trial, we can easily become consumed by it. Paul understood this, because he himself had suffered many trials, he knew what it meant to feel pain. But he held on to the hope that his suffering was for a temporary moment, that in a short while he would reach his final destination where there would be no more death, nor more sorrow, no more crying. There would be no more pain, for the former things had passed away. (Paraphrased from Rev. 21:4).

During our times of pain when sorrow feels over-whelming we must push and remember just like a woman who is in labor about to give birth, the labor pains only last for a little while and joy will come in the morning. That is our hope, this is what enables us to count it all joy as we endure our suffering and pain.

In order to count it all joy, you have to be able to trust God.

Challenge Today

1) Do you have that kind of confidence in him?

2) Are you looking to Him in the midst of your sufferings?

3) Is your focus on the present situation that you are consumed by it?

Ask God to help you rejoice in Him and to count it all joy.