Count it all joy?

Can you remember the last time you were truly grateful for the trials that dart in and out of your life. Not many people would answer that question in the affirmative. Yet that is exactly what James suggested in the epistle attributed to his name. "Count it all joy when you fall into various trials," he writes in 1:2.

What's to be happy about when at best aggravation or at worst serious dilemmas rear their ugly heads in your life? The circumstance du jour is brought about by the hostile environment shared by humans, animals, and nature. It is evil in the world fostered by created beings whose sole purpose is to defeat the work of God on earth. To accomplish that goal these beings will stop at nothing to destroy anyone or anything obstructing their path. What they intend for evil, God turns to good.

The apostle Paul suggested the trials suffered on earth were but light afflictions endured for but a moment (2 Cor. 4:17). Such suffering can't compare with the glory which God will reveal in the believer in heaven (Rom. 8:18). Enduring trials is a condition granted to believers on behalf of Christ that they might suffer for His sake (Phil. 1:29). "In the world," Jesus said, "you will have tribulation. " If left there optimism might be difficult to imagine. However, Jesus finished the statement by saying, "Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world" (John: 16:33).

The trials we experience form our character. In that sense we are to rejoice. It is generally after the fact that we can objectively exam the guerilla attacks to see the positive aspect of the growth process.