“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds …” James 1:2 (NIV)

My wonderful late husband was born on Father’s Day.

So every year, right around Father’s Day, it’s Randy’s birthday. This confluence of celebrations isn’t going to get easier for me and my boys, but it is the way it is.

This past year, on the Saturday between Randy’s birthday (Friday) and Father’s Day (Sunday), I was reading through the first chapter of James:

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, 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” (James 1:2-4, NIV).

What? Pure joy?!

I was right in the middle of a trial, and I wouldn’t have immediately thought to consider it pure joy.

But as I thought about it more, I realized James is not saying, “Look at the trial and feel happy.” No! He knows that the visceral emotion partnered with trials is sorrow, not joy. But he says, “Consider it pure joy” (James 1:2, emphasis added). He’s referencing the intensity, not the exclusivity, of the joy. He is not saying, “Have only joy.” He’s saying, “Have the fullness of joy.” Intensity, not exclusivity. This is important.

James asks us to consider trials from a new perspective.

We must first acknowledge what’s hard and experience sorrow — yes, of course. This has to be the case; otherwise, we would be something less than human.

The psalms in Scripture teach us this lesson beautifully and poignantly. They are filled with examples of people realistically facing their suffering with deep faith and worship, through lament and anger. Worship doesn’t somehow obliterate suffering. Instead, suffering becomes a vehicle for transformative worship, or even better, it becomes the sacrifice the psalmist brings in worship. We have to be aware of our visceral emotions during trials.

But secondly, we also must consider the trials from another perspective: the fullness of joy — heaven.

Heaven offers hope to those who have accepted Christ as their Savior. Each time I consider Randy and heaven and Jesus, my perspective shifts.

When I think about heaven …
I worry less about what people think of me.
I dwell on the hope of a day when tears won’t be necessary and death will be no more.
I seek to love others rather than only seeking love for myself.

When I think about heaven, I think more of what God values: kindness over comparison, celebration over envy, reconciliation over being right, eternal treasure over material toys, listening over needing to be heard, and love over self-consciousness.

When I think about heaven, I start to understand what James says about “not lacking anything” (James 1:4, NIV). It’s all going to be there.

Heavenly Father, help us turn to You with our pain. Remind us of who You are as perseverance finishes its work in us. We long to know You and be like You in it all. Come, Lord Jesus. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

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FOR DEEPER STUDY

Romans 5:3-4, “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation” (NLT).

Consider a season of trials in your past. Ask God how He has used it to grow you more into His likeness. If nothing comes to mind quickly, don’t look away — look at Him. Even if you don’t have an answer, you have Him.

© 2024 by Megan Fate Marshman. All rights reserved.

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