"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." -James 1:2-4 (ESV)
When we encounter any kind of difficulty that is naturally part of the fallenness and brokenness of this world, James tells us that the emotion and mind-set which should well up inside of us is JOY.
How is this possible? How can difficulty and pain bring joy?
For certain James is not a sadist. His point is not that the struggle itself is a source of joy. Rather, he explains that the believer can rejoice in the midst of trial because he understands that something bigger is going on.
God is allowing his faith to be tested.
Why?
According to James, this testing produces something in the believer that would have not otherwise been.
One look at my physique and you realize that I'm no body-builder, but I do enjoy starting my day with a good workout. When I look around the gym and see guys with arms bigger than my head, I can't help but wonder how many hours they've spent to build those muscles. Day in and day out, they had to be faithful to get up early, drive to the gym, warm up their muscles properly, eat and drink the right things, push their muscles to the point of pain and then push them some more.
It is only at the point of great resistance that tiny tears occur in the muscles and they are ultimately built up. The pain of doing one more push up, one more bench press, one more squat, is the very pain that builds new muscle.
I think this is what James is trying to get at. It's not that Christians seek out suffering or enjoy it, it's that we understand that our God allows it for His glory and our good.
The Apostle Paul says it this way in the famous Romans 8:28: "We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose."
This is not simply a trite, warm, and fuzzy statement to put on a Hallmark card. This is the unshakable truth of the sovereignty of our God.
Our fleshly man needs to suffer. We need to be let down by the promises of this world and disappointed by the desires of our flesh. God is gracious enough to allow this in our lives. He's gracious enough to dash our hopes in this temporal life and in its fleeting pleasures.
I've come to believe that there is, in fact, very little that God teaches the believer apart from suffering, for it is only in taking up our cross and following Him daily that we are able to be conformed to His image (Lk. 9:23). It is only in giving up our lives that we are able to find them (Mt. 10:39).
God is taking the fallenness and brokenness of this world and redeeming it by working all of our circumstances and suffering together for His glory and our good. This grows our "faith muscles." It causes us to lean on Him and trust in Him more. Then He proves Himself faithful in the midst of the trail, and we can't help but rejoice!
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