“There is an encounter of God’s mercy and love that can only be formed in and through the fires of adversity.”
Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today – December 16, 2023
Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. James 1:2-4, NLT
James 1 offers us a phrase worthy of our attention and prayerful study. When any kind of trouble comes our way – physical, emotional, relational – we are to “consider it an opportunity for great joy.” It is this potential for joy, as well as the potential lack of joy, that strikes me as I read these words. Trials and struggles in our lives have the potential to open to us the way of joy. Yet it is also just as much a possibility that our difficulties overtake us and steal any joy that we may have known.
When I think of joy, I most often view it as a spontaneous emotion that simply comes upon me, largely out of my control and often by surprise. Yet cultivated joy, joy that is an opportunity that I pursue and seek out, is a more difficult and foreign concept. However, it seems to be exactly what James is referencing in today’s passage: you and I have the potential for greater joy in our lives, and in the mystery of God’s will, that opportunity is found squarely in the middle of life’s most difficult moments.
True and lasting joy is found in a growing awareness and encounter of the mercy of God. And there is an encounter of God’s mercy and love that can only be formed in and through the fires of adversity. Without testing, we will not grow. And without growth and development, we will never encounter the joy that awaits those who patiently endure with hope, trusting and believing that the Lord is with us in our trial, and is leading us through it into a deeper encounter of his very life, which is joy unspeakable.
So, while it is good and right to pray that the Lord would lead us through our pain and struggles into a place of rest, let us never miss the opportunity for joy that is found within each and every season, no matter how difficult it may be.
Prayer
Father, give us the strength to endure whatever trial we may face, believing it to be a path that leads to joy and a deeper encounter of your love, we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Application
What opportunity for joy have you been given in this season of life?
Related Reading
John 16:24; Romans 15:13; Philippians 4:4
Worship Resource
Lion of Judah: Joy
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