Open: What brings you the greatest joy? Why? What do joy and trials have in common?
Back Ground Comments:
James says we should “consider it all joy” … when we face trials of many kinds.” Count it what? Joy? How much joy? All Joy! Could this be a misprint? Most of us consider various kinds of stressful trials to be a taste of hell itself, not all joy. We generally count it all joy when we avoid trials and stressful situations. We hear about someone else's trials and breathe a prayer of joyful thanks that we are not faced with the same problem.
Talk about a paradox! James' admonition seems diametrically opposed to the way we could naturally look at difficulties. His advice certainly seems strange on the surface. Most of us would say, “Count is all joy when you escape trails of various kinds.
What is a paradox? It's a seemingly absurd or self-contradictory statement or proposition that when investigated or explained may prove to be well founded or true. “Count it all joy ...”
We would consider it joy when we escape those kinds of trials. But here James is telling the believer that, paradoxically, he should count it all joy when he falls into various stressful ordeals. Our reactions to it and not our actions are often the issue. Jesus preached the whole Sermon on the Mount to show us the importance of our reactions as necessarily opposed to our actions. He said when stressful circumstances and situations arise, such as someone slapping us on the cheek, that it is the reaction that matters most. He said when some stressful circumstance comes our way as when someone steals our coat then it is our reaction that matters most. Yes, stress is paradoxical. We can “count it all joy when we fall into various trials.”
The Greek word that is translated here in (James 1:2) instructing us to “count it” all joy, means to “think ahead, to think forward.” It is in the aorist tense (in Greek, an unqualified past tense of a verb without reference to duration or completion of the action.) which indicates that the joy that we read about here comes from the trial. James is not saying the trial is joy. He is not advocating some type of sadomasochism here.
Job was thinking ahead when he said, “But He knows the way I take; When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” (Job 23:10) [NASB] Job did not consider losing his health a joy. But he looked forward to the joy that would follow his trial.
Joseph also counted it all joy – he thought ahead. When revealing his identity to his brothers after so many years of hurt he said, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.” (Genesis 50:20) [NASB] Did Joseph count it all joy to be in prison? Of course not. But he knew God's hand was in his circumstances and he was thinking ahead.
And what about Jesus our Lord? Jesus looked beyond his suffering. (Hebrews 12:2) says that is was “ … for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Did Jesus count Calvary a joy? Of course not! But thinking ahead, He thought past Calvary and therefore He bore up under the stress of the cross. Do you get the point?
Explore:
Can you, like Job or Joseph or Jesus, think ahead in the midst of your circumstances and situation? Have you considered it joy to be in the midst of a stressful situation? James is not saying that we have joy in the midst of our trials, but that we have joy in what lies ahead. It seems paradoxical, but James is saying, “There can be joy in the outcome.” God works in us during our stresses, circumstances and situations. We need forward thinking in order to deal with our stress, circumstances and situations properly.
Get it:
Define joy in your own words. How does the Bible define joy? Look up: (Psalm 4:7, 5:11, 16:11, 19:5, 20:5, 21:6, 27:6 and the list goes on in Psalms)
Apply:
Have you ever thought, “How can God use my stress, current situation and circumstance in my life? How can I count it all joy?” God uses those things to test our character, purify our motives, refocus our faith, to check our heart and often to cause us to work on broken relationships. Go back and review the list. Which one does God most frequently work in you? What counsel would you give someone going through the same thing?
Quoted from “High Calling-High Anxiety by OS Hawkins
No comments:
Post a Comment