Joy does not depend on what happens outside of us, it comes from the inside
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I have used this anecdote before in a blog but I feel it is worth repeating as it illustrates what I want to say.
My grandmother was a lovely Christian lady whose faith was strong and simple. She just accepted that Jesus was looking after her and didn’t understand why people wouldn’t believe in Him. As a young woman she had been a downstairs maid in a rich family and had worked long hard hours. She got married but her husband died young so she took in first orphans and then lodgers to make ends meet. My dad was her only child but he was brought up with various foster children. She was in her late 60’s when I was born and she was a great role model when I was a child. In her 80’s she lost both of her legs through diabetes and when we went to see her she would always be joyful and at peace. She would say that lots of people were much worse off than she was. She would crack jokes like: ‘I am playing for Aston Villa this afternoon.’ She died peacefully and much loved and missed at the age 89. She was an amazing lady, who had much suffering in her life but was always full of joy, never complained and never gave up on her faith in Jesus.
I just put that as a prelude to what I want to say about suffering. I love the book of James. It is full of wise words. In James 1 he talks about the way we should think of suffering. In verse 2 he says: ‘Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds’
Firstly, in this scripture James was talking to believers. He says ‘my brothers and sisters’. As Christians we are not immune to suffering as some false prophets preach. In fact, James says ‘whenever you face trials.’ He does not say ‘if you face trials’. Jesus himself said in John 16 verse 33: ‘In this world you will have trouble.’ That sounds pretty definite to me.
I believe that one reason we have to suffer as Christians is to be witnesses to the world by the way we act, react, persevere, trust in the Lord and live our lives in the midst of suffering. God wants us to be better at facing trials than the world. In one of his sermons Charles Spurgeon said this: ‘I believe the hardest hearted, most unlovely Christians in all the world are the ones who have never had much trouble and those who are the most sympathising, loving and christlike are those who have had the most afflictions. The worst thing that can happen to us is to have our path made too smooth.’
Trials can be joyful. Joy is not happiness. Happiness is a passing emotion depending on the circumstances. Joy does not depend on what happens outside of us, it comes from the inside. It does not come from feelings it comes from our will. James says we have to consider it. Consider means calculate, evaluate. It does not mean feel. Feelings have nothing to do with it. We have to think about and decide that we will embrace suffering, learn from it and be determined to benefit from it. It is like deciding to have an operation because you know that your health will be better if you go through it. The joy of the Lord is supernatural. It is the work of the Holy Spirit. Unbelievers cannot have it when they go through their troubles. If this life is all there is for them and they don’t believe in a life with Jesus after death, then they have no hope and therefore no joy. As Christians we have the hope of glory, the hope of eternal life with our Lord so we have every reason to be joyful. That is why we must tell the good news to those around us.
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Suffering can transform our characters. It produces perseverance, staying power, fortitude, an ability to endure no matter what we are going through. Most of us, in the flesh, would prefer to run away. We don’t like the idea of being refined in the fire, we want to cut the process short but if we try to do so we won’t have learned all the lessons God wants us to learn or be the person He wants us to be. The scripture says: ‘Let perseverance finish its work’. It says we must allow it to complete the job.
Then in verse 5 and 6 James says: ‘If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.’ If we ask for wisdom in a trial it will help us not to ask God ‘Why me?’ but ‘Give me wisdom to know what you are trying to teach me’. We have to do it without doubting and be prepared to accept the answer and say ‘Your will be done’.
Joseph in the Old Testament is a great example to us all of how we should be in the midst of hardship. His brothers hated him because he was their father’s favourite so they sold him as a slave. He was taken to Egypt, and worked for Potiphar, whose wife falsely accused him and he was sent to jail. He interpreted the dreams of Pharoah’s baker and cup bearer in jail, who after a while recommended him to Pharoah to interpret his dream and he eventually became the second most powerful man in Egypt. When his brothers came to Egypt for grain in the famine, they were terrified what he would do to them but he told them not to worry because even though they had meant it for evil, God had meant it for good. He went through all that hardship, continuing to do the right thing in every situation he found himself in. In the scripture it never once mentions him complaining about his lot. On the contrary he made the best of every circumstance and even forgave his brothers and recognised it was all in God’s plan. What an amazing role model for us all!
As ever I am writing this blog to speak to myself as well as those reading it. I know that what I have written is true but have to confess that I don’t often consider it pure joy when I am facing trials. However, writing this has helped me think about it more deeply and make me trust in the truth of Romans 8 verse 28: ‘And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purposes.’
I just want end with another couple of quotes from the wise words of Charles Spurgeon:
‘Mark then, Christian, Jesus does not suffer so as to exclude your suffering. He bears a cross, not that you may escape it, but that you may endure it. Christ exempts you from sin, but not from sorrow. Remember that, and expect to suffer.’
‘A high character might be produced, I suppose, by continued prosperity, but it has very seldom been the case. Adversity, however it may appear to be our foe, is our true friend; and, after a little acquaintance with it, we receive it as a precious thing - the prophecy of a coming joy. It should be no ambition of ours to traverse a path without a thorn or stone.’
Father, we want to commit our various trials to you. Teach us to trust that everything works for good for those who love you and to consider it pure joy when we face trials knowing that it will be to our benefit in the long run. Help us Lord to persevere and endure our times of adversity and pain, with your supernatural joy and transform us into the people you want us to be. In Jesus name. Amen
Author: Thelma Cameron
May God bless and enrich your life
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