Count it All Joy Because It’s All Good
“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.
This passage comes from the famous trials chapter in the book of James. To read it and gain some context, click here. Everything we experience in life can fall into one of two categories. Either we are experiencing blessing and abundance, or we’re being prepared for it. So, either way, we have cause to rejoice.
The trials and difficulties we go through prepare us for the blessing and abundance by providing an opportunity to mature. We will not have the abundant promise land life we want until we mature.
And we mature by going through trials that test our faith. So, in essence, this scripture tells us to count it all joy because it’s all good.
More Than Shedding Tears
I used to think that just the act of shedding tears and feeling pain was all that was necessary to be changed for the better from trials. No effort on my part required. But I have since learned that is not the case.
The truth is, trials won’t mature us automatically without any effort on our part. We must respond in faith and obedience. Trial by themselves, without faith are actually more likely to make us more immature (whiny, complaining, angry, bitter, depressed). And less blessed.
And it’s not easy to respond in faith. It goes against our human nature. It actually requires supernatural ability as opposed to natural ability. But God has given us His Holy Spirit which enables us to do just that.
What do I mean when I say “respond in faith”? Essentially this means that we continue to believe that God loves us, is for us and has our best interest at heart in our trial. I will go into more detail regarding this in future posts.
The Count It All Joy Scripture Tells Us It’s All Good
So, when we’re blessed with an abundance of good things, we can rejoice for obvious reasons. But when our way is fraught with trials, we can also rejoice knowing we are being prepared for the abundance of good things that we are not yet mature enough to handle.
So, either way, God is expressing His love and faithfulness to us. And either way, we are blessed so long as we continue in the program. Everything that happens in life is good. For similar posts and scripture to Count It All Joy Because It’s All Good see No Good Thing Will He Withhold.
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