Josh January 6th, 2007
“Count it all joy, my brethren, when you meet trias of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith prouces steadfastness.” -James 1:2-3
A man loses his job. A boy stubs his toe. A a stock-trader loses his wallet. A wife is abandoned by her husband. An employee is late for work. A woman is told she has a terminal illness. A student is mocked because he reads his Bible at school. A husband loses his wife to cancer.
These are different things that happen to Christians everyday. Some of these situations can be as minute as an inconvenience, while others are of such magnitude that they can bring life-paralysis. These different trials may vary in intensity, but they are all still trials, nonetheless. Though the degree of some trials is greater than others, they are all to be appreciated in the same respect. That is, Christians are to count them as all joy.
This does not mean we are to revel in these miseries as if they were joyous, in and of themselves. No, as the wise King Solomon once wrote, inspired by God the Holy Spirit Himself, there is a time for everything. What we are to do though, in such circumstances, is not give away to complete and utter despondency. Certainly we can look at the texts of Scripture and see some heros emerge victorious in suffering.
I’m inclined to consider Job. Did he not lament his pain and, at times, his own birth? Aye. He did. And what of the words of Jeremiah in Lamentations 3?
“I am the man who has seen affliction…”
“…my soul is bereft of peace…”
“My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the Lord.”
And yet, he considers those things and says:
“But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”
And Jeremiah goes on to say that the man should be content to sit alone in silence, if the Lord has so ordered it. He asks, “Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come?” You see, folks, what God sends our way has God’s intention behind it. No matter how ”big” or how “trivial” we perceive a trial, God has His purpose therein.
We might also consider the most glaring example of counting joy in suffering. Our Lord Jesus Christ, “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant,being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” What a glorious truth. What an example after which we should aspire!
You know something that’s odd and shameful? I’ve found that when I’m going through the “big” trials, it’s not too difficult to reserve myself to God’s providence and count such things as for His good purpose because I feel so helpless, to Whom else would I turn? No, it’s the “trivial” matters in wihich I utterly fail to recognize such. Things like being late for work, or not being able to find my keys, etc. It’s in these things that I become a little frustrated and fail to count them joy.
Lord, help this poor sinner to count all things you send my direction as joy.
Pastor Joe Morecraft III, of 
This Thursday, October 19th, 
Speaking of Pastor Bill Shishko, I have started listening to his 
As far as Dr. James White goes, he has multiple audio sermons, lectures, etc. from a variety of sources, and I can say that when I was first “getting into” the 5 points, I was very much helped by Dr. White’s thoughts. I was especially impressed with The Potter’s Freedom which was a reply to Norm Geisler’s Chosen But Free.