“My brothers and sisters, you will have many kinds of trouble. But this gives you a reason to be very happy.”
James 1:2 ERV
Why does trouble make you happy?
“You know that when your faith is tested, you learn to be patient in suffering. If you let that patience work in you, the end result will be good. You will be mature and complete. You will be all that God wants you to be.”
James 1:3-4 ERV
The enemy shows a counterfeit to joy and happiness. He shows relationships that are going perfect, promotions in jobs, wealth, beautiful houses, free time to watch TV, lots of food, perfect health, ... you name it. The enemy says that these things provide joy and happiness. Then he flips things around and interprets suffering in the wrong way.
Satan lies and says that suffering means that God is not able to provide all that you need. He says that broken marriages, rebellious children, financial hardship, health problems are symptoms that God is not big enough and kind enough and does not love you enough to take care of your troubles.
He started those lies with Eve and she fell for it. He tried the same lies with Jesus and Jesus quoted the word and the devil fled!
“If I had not found joy in your teachings, my suffering would have destroyed me.”
Psalms 119:92 ERV
What a powerful truth! We need an arsenal of scripture to quote and claim when troubles come and they will. If I want to be all that God wants me to be, I need suffering in my life. As paradoxical as that may be, the way to grow in the Lord is to allow suffering in our life and dig in deep with it. If I say that I want to be like Christ, point my eyes in the right direction.
We must never stop looking to Jesus. He is the leader of our faith, and he is the one who makes our faith complete. He suffered death on a cross. But he accepted the shame of the cross as if it were nothing because of the joy he could see waiting for him. And now he is sitting at the right side of God’s throne.”
Hebrews 12:2 ERV
Every time we pray, picture Jesus at the right hand of God’s throne and thank him for paying the price it took him to get there. He counted it joy! Let us count our suffering as joy to get us where we want to be.
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