Growing in Grace Part 2: Counting our Trials Joy

           “Count it all Joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.” James 1:2-3

            Count it joy because of Christ. Count it joy because our hope is not in this world but in the world to come. Count it joy because God will take this pain and he will refine you and shape you into the image of His son.

It hurts now, God does not dismiss that. God does not say to act joyfully, or even to feel joy—He says to count it all joy. That means that despite our limited perspective we can know that God is doing something good in and through this.

How is God’s goodness displayed in tragedy? Why would the death of our young babies be good? Truly I don’t have all the answers of why God uses tragedy, but I can say that through tragedy God takes things we only think about Him and makes them into things we know about Him. God is not after our comfort He is after our righteousness. Whatever pain we might endure in this life is not to lead us into sin or to break us—or for us to even find strength within ourselves. God’s sole purpose in our trials, temptations, and pain is to bring Himself glory. We might think then, that we don’t want to bring Him glory, but we forget that God is good, His kindness is everlasting. His glory is always for our good. He displays it in the grace and mercy that He will pour into you in your darkest time, giving us His strength. The end goal of your tragedy is more of Christ.

So instead of shaking our fists at God, or wallowing in our lack of understanding, let us trust in Him. In who His word says He is. We can count it joy because God is giving us more of Him, he is “conforming us into the image of His Son” (Romans 8:29) Jesus is the ultimate treasure and a deeper, fuller relationship with Him should always be our goal as Christians.

“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 9:37)