Pure Joy?

Passage: James 1:2-16

A few years ago I helped lead a study of the Book of James. When we covered this introductory passage, one of the participants said, “Is James saying we should ask God for hardship?” At first glance it almost seems as though he is. “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,” he says, “whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” Pure joy. In my experience the circumstances God uses to teach me patience, wisdom, and trust are not joyous circumstances. The loss of a job. Repeated sleepless nights with a crying infant or sick child. The sustained pain of illness or injury. The uncertainty brought on by conflict in a close relationship. I would never ask for any of these.

And yet looking back I wouldn’t ask God to take them away, either. Why? Because through the discipline of perseverance God has broken me down and re-formed me again and again. Those experiences that have made me more and more the person I want to be – that is, more and more like my Lord and Savior – are painful. I wouldn’t have chosen them; I wouldn’t trade them away. This is the paradox of the life of faith.

The key to all of it is what James identifies in verse 6: trust. James says, “You must believe and not doubt.” The only thing that can turn pain into joy is trust. Trust that God is committed to completing the good work he began in you. Trust that God is at work bringing you closer to him, and bringing out in you the image you were created to bear. If you don’t trust that God’s hand is at work redeeming your struggles, then all you feel is the pain. It is trust that enables us to count it all pure joy.