Count It All Joy When You Encounter Various Trials

Count it all joy when you encounter various temptations or trials because the trial of your faith brings about patience and let the dose of the medicine that produces the fruit of patience have its full course ( James 1:2-3)

Does it not sound absurd or illogical to ‘count it all joy when I come into various trials’?

But that is what the word of God says and God knows what He is talking about. The Holy Spirit inspired the writing of the scriptures.

Let us examine this strange statement a bit further. Why would you count it all joy? Well, if the word of God says it, then it must be a good thing to do, because the Holy Spirit inspired the word and knows it is a good thing we have trials in life. Life is not a bed of roses. Loving parent would protect their children as much as possible but they would be naïve if they hold on tight to them from birth and disallow them from learning to crawl, learn to walk, fall and get up and try again until they can run. The same is true of our heavenly Father. ‘Trials’ does not sound music to the ears; it is not palatable to the taste. It feels horrible to the body at times and often cruel to the emotions. But on reflection of the trials we have been through and come out victorious, we would agree that they were good for us. There were many lesson we would not have learned when things were rosy with us that we learned those moments of trials. In other words, the trials were God’s great gift in disguise, like guardian angels of our soul, leading us gradually into our promised land.

In fact in the scripture above we are clearly told of the benefit of the trial- it works or brings about patience, albeit not automatically.

So when you face your trials thank God that He has something great at the end of the tunnel. Praise Him for the great thing which is coming. Rejoice before you see the goodness on its way. Pray for endurance and perseverance to learn all the lessons that need to be learned from the trial. Face the trial by faith. Have an attitude of gratitude and it will lead you to a great altitude.

Think of how mother eagle bats her young out of the safe comfort of the well fortified nest, to teach the little eagle how to fly. It is almost like an abuse by a parent when the eaglet is thrown thousands of miles down and it plummets as it were to an inevitable death. But mother-eagle is never far away as the little eagle’s heart is pounding and it is cursing and rebuking the devil in mummy. Before she crash-lands, mother eagle quickly takes it on her pinions and takes it back to the nest. After a while the routine is tried again. This goes on until the little eagle gets the message: ‘You can fly!’ or ‘I can fly!’ (Deut32:10-12). Think of how handicapped the little eagle would have been had mother eagle played it safe.

Our heavenly Father who made the eagle knows better than the eagle ad more loving than the eagle. Because of His great love He allowed Jesus to go through gruesome suffering to redeem us. In the book of Isaiah it says ‘it pleased the Father to bruise Him’( Isa53:10). Does it sound harsh? But without going trough what He went through you and I will still be in our sins- lost forever.

Father God knows better than our earthly parents and if they will not in place of bread give us stone, or in place of fish give us snake, how much more our heavenly Father? He loves us with and everlasting love. As high as the heaven is above the earth so great is His love towards us; and as far as the East is from the West, so great is His love towards us. (Ps103:4,11-12, John 3:16, Ephe2:4, Jer29:11)

So, count it all joy when you come into various trials, my friend.

we could all take a lesson from our lord. and after his asscension the apostles.their lives were daily in danger and eventually martyred for their faith.tests and trials seem trival in light of this.

You're quite right, tom2

Thanks for your contribution.

Fenny